Overview: Jon Niese looked fantastic tonight. The Braves have a weak offense, but regardless, our increasingly impressive young lefty was in nearly complete command. The Mets left too many men on base, but with the way their starters have been going of late, four runs was fortunately enough to hold on for the win.
———————————————————————————-
Summary: As has been the case all year, Jose Reyes set the tone instantly by leading off the game with an infield single, stealing second, and scoring on a Beltran single. The Braves tied it up in the 2nd without exactly smashing the ball. Ross singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then scored when Beltran bobbled a single in right off the bat of Mather.
The 3rd was much like the first for the Mets, with Jose again singling, Harris continuing his mastery of Jurrjens with a single, and then the two pulled off a successful double steal. After a Murphy walk, Pagan, far less successful against Jurrjens, lined a single to drive in Reyes. Duda then hit a sac fly to drive in Harris, giving the Mets their third run.
They tacked on another after Tejada worked out a walk, was bunted over by Niese, and driven in by the molten-hot Reyes’ third single of the night.
After Ross doubled over Pridie’s head in the bottom of the 7th to drive in Gonzalez, Niese was given a quick hook after 95 pitches. The seemingly lost Beato came in and walked Mather, so Collins went to Byrdak to face McCann, who was 0-for-6 in this matchup, and soon moved to 0–for-7 after striking out. Byrdak then struck out pinch hitter Diory Hernandez and the Braves’ biggest threat was over.
Uggla homered off of Izzy in the 8th and Chipper chased Beltran to the wall when flying out to right. The pen bent but did not break; Hinske grounded out right back to Izzy to end the 8th.
KRod mowed the Braves down in order in the 9th to earn his co-major league best 19th save and end the exciting game in perfect fashion.
———————————————————————————-
Willie Harris Hitting Second!! Oh no!! Apparently, Terry Collins does know something about lineups. Before the game, some noted that Willie Harris apparently was 7-for-14 against Jurrjens, which is definitely large enough of a sample size to surmise that Harris can hit Jurrjens. In the top of the 1st Harris followed Jose’s single with a walk, and was in scoring position with no outs. In the 3rd, Harris followed another Jose single with a single of his own, stole second and eventually scored. In the top of the 6th, after Jose singled in Tejada, Harris worked out a walk, which was the last straw for Gonzalez, who pulled Jurrjens. All of this should serve as a wonderful reminder to fan/bloggers like us that a man like Terry Collins has forgotten more about baseball at the highest level than any of us will ever dream of knowing.
———————————————————————————-
The Maturing Jon Niese: Niese has now allowed more than three earned runs once in his last eleven starts. The big lefty has surprised many thus far in his career. Last year he showed tremendous promise, but withered down the stretch after throwing more innings than ever before. Niese now appears more in command, more mature, and more confident than ever. He is continuing to master his repertoire, and seems on the verge of becoming a serious number two or three starter. If Niese did indeed strengthen himself for the rigors of a full major league season as he suggested this offseason, we might be witnessing the breakout year for a pitcher we could be watching for a decade or more.
———————————————————————————-
On Deck: Undefeated Dillon Gee takes on Tim Hudson tomorrow evening at 7:10 in game two of the series. The Mets have now beaten the Braves four of their last five meetings, and another win tomorrow would again put the team at the elusive .500 mark. Let’s see Gee get to 8-0, continue to garner attention, and give the orange and royal blue a perfect springboard from which to begin the climb above .500 and start solidifying their upward march in the standings which hopefully will have taken another step; as of this writing the Marlins were losing to Hamels. Go Phils? Sounds strange to be sure, but as a wise man once said, my enemy’s enemy is my friend. For tonight only, let’s hope Hamels gets the win and eases the boys into third place.
20 comments
Kirk_C
6/14/2011-10:21pm at 10:21 pm (UTC -4)
Love the way Niese is pitching. Once again impressed by the maturity Tejada is playing with.
Regardless of what happens this season, this team is fun to watch. There’s a lot of players to root for on this team.
TRS86
6/14/2011-10:46pm at 10:46 pm (UTC -4)
Sent you an email.
metsfan4decades
6/14/2011-10:47pm at 10:47 pm (UTC -4)
Good point.
I think at this point last season, we were something like 10-11 games over .500. Same time this year, we’re 1 game under. Yet this year is so much more fun to watch, as you’ve said.
I’m not sure if this has to do with lower expectations going in, being underdogs b/c of the injuries to core players and initially resigning myself to ugly games, or a combination of both. Whatever it is, when we pull one out, it makes my night.
Kirk_C
6/14/2011-10:22pm at 10:22 pm (UTC -4)
I’m curious to see if Gee throws his newly added cutter more often this start. If I were running an org every pitcher would learn to throw a cutter.
hazmet
6/14/2011-10:31pm at 10:31 pm (UTC -4)
Absolutely, believe it is relatively easy to throw and is a nice wrinkle. And yes, Tejada continues to impress even when he got absolutely screwed on strikes 2 & 3 in the ninth inning. Guess the ump was getting hungry and had rese’s.
njstuckintx
6/15/2011-8:54am at 8:54 am (UTC -4)
Yeah, that was crap. And it’s not like Kimbrel is some sort of big time Veteran. I think the Ump had a date after the game.
metsfan4decades
6/14/2011-10:37pm at 10:37 pm (UTC -4)
Niese looking good.
Just another oh-hum game for Jose.
With the absence of power, I guess our guys are getting pretty good at this small ball, huh? Still, like to see an extra base hit or 2 with guys on base for some breathing room with this BP.
Go Phils? Go Hamels? LOL I have such a problem with this. Almost would rather wait a day or 2 for 3rd place…..almost.
kingman 26
6/14/2011-10:49pm at 10:49 pm (UTC -4)
“Almost would rather wait a day or 2 for 3rd place…..almost.”
You really saved yourself with those “almost”s.
My enemy’s enemy is my friend dammit!
metsfan4decades
6/14/2011-10:56pm at 10:56 pm (UTC -4)
LOL.
Yeah, I think it’s common knowledge how much I’d like Philly to fail. But can’t be looking at them in the standings right now. Climbing over .500 and FL is a more immediate, doable goal.
kingman 26
6/14/2011-11:00pm at 11:00 pm (UTC -4)
Yes MF4D, my point precisely.
We must first leapfrog who is directly above us. Once we establish ourselves above FLA, we can think about ATL and eventually PHIL.
Winston Churchill said during WWII that “if Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least one favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”
So, we can root for the Phils if it simply puts us in 3rd place!
Tomorrow, the Phils AND Marlins can go to hell!
metsfan4decades
6/14/2011-10:53pm at 10:53 pm (UTC -4)
On that note, with a 9-1 lead, Hamels just pulled for back spasms.
kingman 26
6/14/2011-10:57pm at 10:57 pm (UTC -4)
Out for the season!
Retiring and over the hill!
stickguy
6/14/2011-11:10pm at 11:10 pm (UTC -4)
darn. I was hoping hamels would sign the huge deal with the yankees before he broke down for good,but oh well,I’ll still take it!
metsfan4decades
6/14/2011-10:40pm at 10:40 pm (UTC -4)
And I think this makes like 40 wins at Turner Field vs. like 89 losses?
Maybe in another 10 years we can get to .500 there? LOL.
stickguy
6/14/2011-11:12pm at 11:12 pm (UTC -4)
Knog, glad to see you seeing the light on Neise. I might not always be right, but I was telling you since last year he was the real deal.
and I don’t care if it would put a man on mars, I will never root for the phils to win. Unless it is the last game of the season, they are out of it, and winning would put the Mets in playoffs. And even then, I would hate myself for doing it!
kingman 26
6/14/2011-11:38pm at 11:38 pm (UTC -4)
Who the f*** cares about Mars?
If it moves the Mets up, go Phils, Yanks, Raiders, Notre Dame, John Calipari, Sarah Palin, whoever!
kistics
6/15/2011-12:22am at 12:22 am (UTC -4)
Sarah Palin… LOL
saltygary
6/14/2011-11:16pm at 11:16 pm (UTC -4)
Niese was on it. Great catches by Pagan and Beltran. Holy SB by Beltran. All and all crappy offense squeked by crappier offense.
Duda and Thole were horrible and the lineup Atlanta threw out was abysmal.
So psyched to see Gee play tomorrow.
kistics
6/15/2011-12:25am at 12:25 am (UTC -4)
I am little worried about Izzy… he hasn’t looked good at all past 2 weeks or so.. Also Beato hasn’t been the same as well…
Hope this is just ups and downs of the BP…
kistics
6/15/2011-12:29am at 12:29 am (UTC -4)
Did you know that the Mets now have a winning record on the road? 18-17 with tonight’s win… way to go Mets!!