How good it feels to be home. Jonathon Niese went to the mound today and pitched six solid innings, getting out of trouble consistently and received plenty of run support as the Mets beat the Cardinals 8-2
Game Notes
Jonathon Niese went to the mound today and provided the Mets with some quality pitching to kick-off their trip home. Niese went gave up one run in six innings on seven hits with two walks and one strikeout. Despite him not striking out many batters, Niese was generating groundballs at nearly a 2.5 to 1 ratio. This was the case of his cutter eating up right-handed hitters and keeping the ball in play. Niese is solidifying his role in this rotation as a solid #3, and with that in tow the Mets may not have to make a major deadline deal for a frontline starter, and by just getting a mid-rotation guy they can have the pitching that they need.
The bullpen came out to preserve a large lead, and Manny Acosta did his best to do that. Manny Acosta pitched one inning, allowing one run on three hits. Raul Valdes would relieve Acosta and allow a baserunner to score, but even that was on a bases-loaded double play that scored the lead runner. Raul Valdes went one perfect inning. Since being called back up, Raul Valdes has allowed two runs in 12 1/3 innings, striking out eleven. Francisco Rodriguez came out for some routine work and pitched a clean ninth inning, striking out two
The bullpen has been good for the most part but lately has been taxed by a few extra inning games. It’d be nice to see the starters go eight innings or even the distance
The Mets offense struck while the iron was hot, scoring the first run of the game on an Ike Davis groundout that plated David Wright. With Jason Bay sitting out the game with a mild concussion after his phenomenal catch in the Dodgers series, Jeff Francoeur got the start in right with Angel Pagan playing LF and Frenchy made his presence felt, drilling a three-run home run in the fourth inning to put the Mets ahead for good. The Mets would plate two more runs in the 5th, on a David Wright sac-fly that scored Luis Castillo and then some aggressive base-running by Angel Pagan, stealing second allowed him to score on a Carlos Beltran seeing-eye single. The Mets would put the lead into another galaxy on a Jose Reyes blast into the Pepsi Porch in right field, making the score 8-1.
The Mets as a team drew 5 walks – with David Wright going 0-1 with 2 BB, 1 K and a sac-fly.
Carlos Beltran went 2-3 with an RBI, R and BB. Carlos looks like he may be getting more comfortable at the plate, and lets hope that rubs off into the field
Ike Davis went 1-4 with an RBI, R and 2 K’s. Even when Ike puts together good games, he racks up the strikeouts. Ike has NINETY strikeouts in 325 AB’s. Thats nearly a 27% strikeout rate.
Mike Hessman made his first appearance as a Met, and fouled out to third base in a pinch-hitting role.
Turning Point
The Jeff Francoeur blast invigorated a recently-stagnant Mets offense and lead to the explosion.
Game Ball
Jonathon Niese, for navigating around trouble the whole game and assisting in holding the reigning MVP Albert Pujols to an 0-5 line. Kudos also goes to Frenchy for hitting his first HR in exactly a month.
On Deck
The Mets look to keep the winning ways going, sending Johan Santana to the mound and he will face off against rookie of the year candidate Jaime Garcia. This is a rematch of the two starters who began the 20 inning epic on April 21st.
