Marlins at Mets • 7:10 PM
LHP Brad Hand (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Jon Niese (6-7, 3.86)
Starting Lineup
- Eric Young, Jr. – LF
- Juan Lagares – CF
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- Andrew Brown – RF
- Lucas Duda – 1B
- Zach Lutz – 3B
- Travis d’Arnaud – C
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Jon Niese – LHP
After being swept by the Nationals with Thursday’s 7-2 loss at Citi Field, the Mets are just one loss away from their fifth straight losing season. They likely will be tied with the Astros entering 2014 for the longest streak of losing seasons in baseball.
A September callup, Hand makes his first big league start since Aug. 3, 2012. At Triple-A New Orleans this year, he was 3-5 (3.42) in 15 starts. Hand last threw three innings of relief for Miami in Monday’s loss to Atlanta.
Niese gave up five runs (four earned) in the first inning of his start Saturday in Cleveland. In the second, he served up a solo shot to Nick Swisher, but went on to throw four scoreless afterward. In six frames, he had two walks and five strikeouts.
Eric Young Jr., has given the Mets a speed threat since arriving in a mid-season trade with the Rockies. Young has 28 steals with the Mets and 21 since the All-Star break, which is the most of any big league player. Young has already set personal bests with 37 steals between the two teams in 131 games played.
Young has batted just .237 (46-for-194) in 50 games since the All-Star break, but he’s found a way to make his few chances on base count. Overall, the 28-year-old has batted .262 (79-for-301) with 33 walks in 74 games with the Mets, and he’s hit .309 (29-for-93) out of the leadoff slot.
Only two players, Giancarlo Stanton (20) and Justin Ruggiano (16), have hit more than 10 home runs for Miami, and Stanton has played in just 98 games. The 23-year-old slugger is the ninth quickest player in baseball history to reach 100 career homers (400 games), which he did earlier this season.
Game Preview
The Mets look to move beyond a series against the Nationals where the Nationals hit 13 homers and the Mets hit none by welcoming the Marlins into town. Harang made his first start in his Mets career last night allowing 3 solo homers over 4 hits. Despite being roughed up, and the Mets eventually losing 7-2, he did have 10 strikeouts. Tonight Jon Niese takes the mound against Brad Hand.
Jon Niese is 6-7 over 20 starts this year with a 3.86 ERA while pitching 116.2 innings with 86 strikeouts. In his last start he snapped a streak of four great starts that saw him pitch 27.2 innings with a 1.30 ERA by allowing 5 ER over 6 innings (which as you can tell by the Math was more runs allowed in that one game than his previous four). He has a 2.13 ERA over 2 games and 12.2 innings against the Marlins this season, and the Marlins have the following numbers against him:
Polanco 12-35, 5 2B
Stanton 5-15
Morrison 3-9, 2B
Coghlan 2-10, 2B
Solano 3-9, 2B
Brad Hand will be making his first start of the 2013 season today. So far he has pitched in three games racking up 5.2 scoreless innings. In his career he has pitched 12.2 innings against the Mets allowing 3 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
Duda 2-5, 2B
Tejada 0-2
Turner 1-3, 2B
Murphy 0-1
Lets Go Mets!
