Jon Niese took the hill tonight to try get the Mets a W and he drew the tough right hander Ricky Nolasco. It didn’t start out well at all. Jon Niese had problems with his defense in the bottom of the first when Brad Emaus threw a slow ground ball to Davis that was late and failed to field a easy pop up that put a man on first with one out. After a double, and a walk, Niese was tested with a bases loaded in a 1 out situation. The end result was almost as every Met fan might expect; Logan Morrison hit a 2 run base hit and within 10 minutes of the start time of the game, the Mets were already down 2 runs. But Jon Niese didn’t let this rattle him.
Niese would cruise through the next seven innings holding the Marlins down while waiting for his offense to kick in. Over the course of the next couple of innings, the Mets would slowly begin to hit Nolasco. It started in the third when Thole led with a base hit and was advance to second by a sac bunt by Niese. Reyes would hit the ball on the screws to Center Field that would be caught but Thole would move to third bringing up Angel Pagan who would hit the ball deep to left but would result in a long third out. Niese really settled in and had his fast ball up to 92 and used his curve ball that really had the batters fooled.
David Wright hit his first home run of the season to lead off the top of the fourth when he connected with a outside fastball that he took to the opposite field. It took some really good defense from the Marlins to bail out Nolasco when his outfielders made 2 good catches from hits by Beltran and Davis. Brad Emaus got his first hit of his major league career when he hit a screaming ground ball that bounced off of Hanley Rameriz’s shoulder to lead off the top of the 5th inning but would be stranded on second base.
The Mets tied the game when Carlos Beltran hit a two out single in the top of the sixth and score on an Ike Davis double that was in the gap. Niese made the Seventh inning interesting by working around a hit batsman but he was brilliant, never losing his composure. He threw only 86 pitches over 7 innings. Bobby Parnell would come in and throw some heat in the 8th touching 99 on the radar gun- he struck out two batters.
The Mets took the lead in the top of the ninth when Nunez walked Davis(who was lifted for pinch runner Hu) on four pitches and when Duda got him to second on ground ball, Brad Emaus then moved him over to third. Thole, who was thrown out by Emilio Bonifacio on a base running blunder in the seventh, redeemed himself with a opposite field base hit giving the Mets the lead.
K- Rod made his first appearance of the 2011 season and coughed up the lead allowing the Marlins to score on a three base hits. Way to work your way to the option K-Rod!
Jose Reyes saved his first hit of the 2011 season for the best time, the top of the 10th inning. Pagan would lay down a sac bunt that would turn out to be a bunt single. With runners on first and second, David Wright would line up the middle for his third hit of the night and scoring his second RBI as well. Willie Harris would be the game out of reach with a double down the first base line scoring both Pagan and Wright.
Blaine Boyer would come in the bottom of the tenth to nail down the save not without giving up a run.
Side notes of the tonights game- Niese was real impressive, tossing 7 innings. It was very Un-Met like to see the Mets come back and score in the ninth and then in the tenth. I guess the last two years have really made me pessimistic of the come back inning. You just knew this first win wasn’t going to be easy right?
11 comments
Bryan
4/2/2011-10:58pm at 10:58 pm (UTC -4)
I think you really have to like Carlos scoring from first on Ike’s double. Good sign for the health of his legs.
Ceetar
4/3/2011-12:40am at 12:40 am (UTC -4)
and after the workout, two days off. Won’t have to run as hard in Philly cause all his hits will clear the wall.
metsfan4decades
4/2/2011-11:14pm at 11:14 pm (UTC -4)
I wasn’t thinking ‘Game Over’ when the Mets were down 2 in the 1st. We’ve been good at getting to Nolasco in the middle innings last year. Seems to me he always looks like he’s gonna pitch a JJ game but doesn’t quite last. True to form…
Loved the late inning runs and come back win.
Niese really impressed me tonight. I see him taking a step forward this year. KRod, on the other hand, is going to give me a heart attack. Seriously.
stickguy
4/2/2011-11:42pm at 11:42 pm (UTC -4)
neise is my favorite SP on the team.
Prismo
4/2/2011-11:15pm at 11:15 pm (UTC -4)
Thanks for the post-game Gonzo!
Nice win, despite the KRod semi-meltdown.
Only huge negative for me is Jerry Collins having Angel bunt (especially once the count was 2-0) with no outs and a runner on first. Don’t get that at all.
kistics
4/2/2011-11:26pm at 11:26 pm (UTC -4)
One less games finished for KRod…
stickguy
4/2/2011-11:43pm at 11:43 pm (UTC -4)
yeah, that move bothered me too. Way too Jerry for me (and I always said he managed scared).
stickguy
4/2/2011-11:41pm at 11:41 pm (UTC -4)
wasn’t it last year or 2009 that they only had like 1 come from behind win from the 8th inning on?
so far, Beltran’s bat looks good, and thole is proving his big spring was not a fluke. And Ike looking matured from last year too. if those 3 guys get dialed in, this team will score some runs.
K rod, well, he didn’t carry the dominant spring over. But, mets win, and 1 missed GS for him. the wilpons call that a win win!
saltygary
4/3/2011-8:43am at 8:43 am (UTC -4)
How did Beltran look running around last night?
metsfan4decades
4/3/2011-9:37am at 9:37 am (UTC -4)
Well, he scored from first on a Ike double. He was fast enough but to me what was missing was the smooth gliding he’s noted for that always made that speed seem somehow not so fast.
In the OF, he ran down 2 foul balls at the stands. One he caught, one he didn’t. With that, I don’t think it’s the speed so much as not being used to having to worry about where the fence/stands are. I expect that will take some time.
He’s still fast enough and still has a hell of an arm. If those knees stay healthy, I don’t see why he would be any kind of liability in RF.
stickguy
4/3/2011-11:19am at 11:19 am (UTC -4)
Certainly Beltran does not have the wheels he once did.
But, is that really much different than any other speed type guy that is getting toward the end of a career?
I am trying to look at him as a RF with some pop in his bat, that will maybe steal a base here and there, and not clog up the base paths otherwise.
by that standard, he looks pretty good! At least as fast as Werth, Frenchy, etc. Pretty sure there aren’t too many big speedster RFs these days, right?
So, to me, the bigger question was always if the knees held up, not if he was going to run like the Carlos of old.