Starting Lineup
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- Mike Baxter – RF
- David Wright – 3B
- Lucas Duda – LF
- Rick Ankiel – CF
- John Buck – C
- Ike Davis – 1B
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Jon Niese – LHP
Game Notes
The Mets signed reliever David Aardsma to a minor league deal. Aardsma didn’t make the Yankees’ roster out of spring training and opted out of his deal with Miami after not getting promoted within a month. He has 69 career saves.
Shaun Marcum joined Jeremy Hefner on the 0-5 club after getting tagged for the loss in the Mets’ 4-3 loss Monday to Cincinnati. Marcum had a rough first inning and pitched well over his final five, but a sixth-inning home run made the difference.
Rick Ankiel extended his hitting streak to five games and is batting .368 during that stretch, He has hit .304 (7-23) in 7 games with Mets. Meanwhile, Marlon Byrd hit a three-run homer last night and is batting .343 (12-25) with three home runs this month.
Mets starting pitchers are 3-8 with a 5.64 ERA (60 earned runs/95.2 innings) this month. Overall, New York starters are 10-18 with a 4.45 ERA (116 earned runs/234.2 innings), ranking 20th in the majors.
Game Preview
The Mets dropped the opener to the Reds last night but look to get back on the right path as they play game two in Citi Field. Marcum got the Mets off to a rough start last night but was able to limit the damage for the rest of his outing (with the exception of one more run, which ended up being the difference). Byrd was able to tie the game with homer but the offense as a whole wasn’t enough to keep the Mets going. Tonight it will be Jon Niese for the Mets as he squares up against Mike Leake.
Jon Niese is 3-4 over 9 starts this season with 48.1 innings of work while posting a 5.40 ERA. So far this season he has walked 24 batters while striking out 24. After two bad starts in a row (8.1 innings, 15 ER) he got back on the winning horse last time out with a 7.1 inning, 2 ER performance. Last year he had one start against the Reds where he allowed 4 ER and 6 hits over 7 innings. The Reds have the following numbers against Niese:
Phillips 5-13, 2B, 2 HR
Votto 2-10, HR
Bruce 2-8, HR
Choo 0-3
Cozart 1-4
Mike Leake is 3-2 this season over 8 starts with a 3.72 ERA while pitching 48.1 innings. He has walked 13 and struck out 34 in that stretch. He is coming off a rather interesting start, at least from a statistics stand point. Last time out against the Marlins, he pitched 6.2 innings allowing 9 hits, but no runs, which doesn’t bode well for the Mets who have the following numbers against him:
Byrd 3-15, 2B
Wright 1-10
Murphy 1-10, 2B
Ankiel 3-8, 2B
Davis 1-8, 2B
Turner 3-7
Duda 3-3
Let’s Go Mets!
