The New York Mets (46-42) conclude their first half with a 1:10 PM contest against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field on Sunday looking for the three-game sweep.
Jon Niese (4-8, 3.58 ERA) gets the series finale and opposes right-hander Rubby De La Rosa (6-4, 4.89) for the D’Backs.
The Mets will finish the first half with a winning record for the first time since going 46-40 in 2012.
The Mets are 31-14 at Citi Field which is tied for the best start in team history after 45 home games with the 1988 and 1986 clubs.
New York’s .689 home winning percentage is the second-best in the majors. They have won 10 of their last 14 home games.
Mets Starting Lineup
- Curtis Granderson – RF
- Daniel Murphy – 3B
- Wilmer Flores – 2B
- Lucas Duda – 1B
- Kirk Nieuwenhuis – LF
- Johnny Monell – C
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Jonathon Niese – LHP
- Juan Lagares – CF
As you already know by now, today was originally slated for Steven Matz, but he’s now out for at least three weeks. While the Mets consider whether or not they go back to a five man rotation, they will hand the ball to left-hander Jon Niese today to close out the second half.
Niese has received a lot of criticism over the last 6 weeks, from myself included, but he has turned it on as of late. Overall he is 4-8 over 16 starts, pitching 98.0 innings with a 3.58 ERA.
Since June 11th Niese has tossed 5 games and 35.0 innings with a 2.06 ERA. In a smaller sample, in his last two starts he has logged 15.0 innings with 1 ER. At the start of June he faced the Diamondbacks allowing 3 ER over 6.0 innings and a season high of 8 strikeouts. Arizona has the following numbers against Niese:
- Castillo 2-10, HR
- Goldschmidt 2-8
- Hill 2-8, 2B, HR
- Pollock 4-6, 2B
- Salty 1-6
The Mets bats will get a crack at Rubby De La Rosa who is 6-4 over 17 starts and 106.2 innings with a 4.89 ERA. He is coming off of a rough start where he allowed 6 ER over 5.0 innings which ended a streak of 4 starts where he allowed 2 runs or less (and before that he had a streak of 4 starts where he allowed 4 runs or more).
He has made only one career start against the Mets where he allowed 3 ER over 7.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against De La Rosa:
- Cuddyer 0-3
- Duda 0-3
- Murphy 1-3, 2B
- Tejada 2-3
Lets Go Mets!
