MMO Game Thread: Padres vs Mets, 12:10 PM

The New York Mets and San Diego Padres will play the rubber match of their series in a 12:10 PM matinee at Citi Field.

Jonathon Niese (5-9, 3.75) returns after the birth of his son in Ohio to oppose right-hander Andrew Cashner (4-10, 3.93) for the Padres.

The Mets are 3-3 on their current 10-game homestand. New York is 35-17 at Citi Field which is tied for the second-best start in team history after 52 home games with the 2000 and 1988 clubs.

Mets Starting Lineup

Curtis Granderson – RF
Ruben Tejada – SS
Daniel Murphy – 2B
Lucas Duda – 1B
Juan Uribe – 3B
Michael Conforto – LF
Kevin Plawecki – C
Jonathon Niese – LHP
Juan Lagares – CF

Well the last 15 hours or so have been a whirlwind for the Mets. Today is going to test out the professionals on the team to be play through all of the distractions.

Basically in the last 15 hours, the news broke out that the Mets were working hard to acquire a big bat. Then Colon stunk it up on the mound. Then news broke that the Mets acquired Gomez for Wheeler/Flores. Then Duda hit his second homer of the night.

Then we were all confused why Flores was still in the game. Then Flores showed us that he’s human and this game involves humans. Then Flores was finally taken out of the game. Then Duda hit his third homer of the game. Then the Mets lost. Then the deal fell through due to medicals.

So Jon Niese will try to make the Mets and fans forget the last 15 hours. Niese is 5-9 over 19 games and 115.1 innings with a 3.75 ERA. Niese was one a great roll since the start of June except for his lasts tart against the Giants where he allowed 6 ER over 3.0 innings. Its been a while since Niese faced the Padres, the last time was back in 2013 where he was 2-0 over as many starts allowing only 3 ER over 12.2 innings striking out 13 K’s. The Padres have the following numbers against Niese:

J Upton 9-23, 2B
Barmes 6-16, 2B, HR
Kemp 4-16
M Upton 2-12
Gyorko 4-6, 2 2B

The Mets bats will get a look at Andrew Cashner who is 4-10 over 19 starts and 116.2 innings with a 3.93 ERA. His last start was his second in his last three where he allowed 1 run over at least 6.0 innings. His start against the Mets earlier this season was good for the Mets as he allowed 11 hits, 6 runs, 5 earned over 4.2 innings (although he struck out 12 batters). The Mets have the following numbers against Andrew: