MMO Game Thread: Mets vs Angels, 9:05 PM

The Mets and Angels will play the middle game of their weekend series when Jon Niese opposes Jared Weaver at 9:05 PM.

Niese lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up a pair of runs on six hits, in a 2-1 loss to the Reds in his season debut. He was on a 90-pitch limit after missing time this spring with elbow discomfort.

“We’re going to take the shackles off,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “It will probably be around 105 pitches. He looked pretty good to 90 the other day.”

Travis d’Arnaud homered for the first time in 110 at-bats when he took Tyler Skaggs deep in the third inning to even the score at 2-2 at the time. D’Arnaud’s only other big-league homer came last Aug. 25 against Detroit’s Rick Porcello.

Juan Lagares has hit in six straight games, going 6-22 (.273) and has at least one hit in nine of the 10 games he’s played this season. Overall, Lagares is batting .297 (11-37) with a .341 on-base percentage and has a team-leading six RBI.

Daniel Murphy has at least one hit in seven of the eight games he’s played this year. Murphy is 5-9 over his last two games and has hit in four straight games (6-18, .333). He is hitting .318 for his career with runners in scoring position.

Starting Lineup

Eric Young, Jr. – LF
Daniel Murphy – 2B
David Wright – 3B
Curtis Granderson – RF
Ike Davis – 1B
Lucas Duda – DH
Juan Lagares – CF
Anthony Recker – C
Omar Quintanilla – SS

Game Preview

The Mets continue their series tonight with the Angels as they try to bounce back from their close, 5-4 loss in the series opener. Gee was a little flat at points last night and the team just couldn’t get enough done on the base paths to propel to victory. Tonight, Jon Niese will get his second start of the season as he squares off against Jered Weaver.

Jon Niese had a successful start to the season even though he picked up the loss as he pitched 5.2 innings allowing 2 ER and 6 hits while walking one and striking out 4. His one start against the Angels was forgettable as he allowed 4 ER, 5 total over 4.0 innings with 8 hits. However, the wealth of players who have moved to the Angels in recent years has resulted in some history between the Angels and Niese:

Ibanez 4-16, HR
Freese 0-9
Iannetta 2-6
Pujols 2-7, 2B, HR
Aybar 1-3, 3B
Stewart 1-3
Kendrick 0-2

Jered Weaver is 0-2 over his first two starts this season allowing 9 runs, 8 earned over 12 innings. In that time he has allowed 11 hits, walked three batters and struck out 12. Last season he went 11-8 with a 3.27 ERA over 24 games and 154.1 innings of work while striking out 117. The season before that he won a league leading 20 games in 30 starts over 188.2 innings. He has made one start against the Mets where he allowed 6 ER over 6.1 innings with 8 hits. The Mets have the following numbers against Weaver: