8/27 Mets Game Recap – Jon Niese (Was I supposed to put a score or somethin’?)

How did the Mets respond to the Marlon Byrd/John Buck trade the day after Matt Harvey was put on the disabled list?

Well, they scored their usual 1-2 runs.

Jon Niese did the rest.

August 27, 2013; New York, NY, USA; New York Mets catcher Travis d

Jon Niese not only threw a complete-game 3-hit Shutout, he also drove in 3 of the 5 runs the Mets scored against the Phillies.

Box Score and Highlights here.

The Mets themselves only got 5 hits off Kyle Kendrick, with no one having a multi-hit game.

The scoring didn’t get started until the bottom of the 3rd. Omar Quintanilla led the inning off with a called strikeout, but Jon Niese worked a 6-pitch walk. Eric Young, Jr. had a solid sac bunt, then Daniel Murphy singled Jon Niese in, who bolted through Tim Tuefel’s late stop sign to score the 1st run of the game.

Whoa. It’s the bottom of the 6th. Jon Niese is absolutely cruising, and the Mets have kept it to the same total they did on Monday night. Luckily, everything change from there with the help of a costly Phillies error. Andrew Brown led off with a single, then Ike Davis grounded it to Kevin Frandsen. He attempted to get the double play at 2nd, but threw it away. Andrew Brown went down to 3rd, and Ike headed for 2nd. Unfortunately the runners had to hold when Wilmer Flores grounded out to 3rd, and on that, the Phillies intentionally walked Juan Lagares to get to the less experienced Travis d’Arnaud. He made them pay a bit, as he hit a sac fly to center to make it 2-0, with both Ike and Travis moving up a base.

Now. When I say Jon Niese had an At Bat, I mean he HAD AN AT BAT. Working the count to 3-2 and fighting off pitches, the lefty laced the 8th pitch to the opposite field, dropping it in the gap to clear the bases, giving the Mets a 5-0 lead.

And that was it. he retired 24 of the last 26 batters he faced to complete the 3-hit shutout, only his 2nd in the Majors (remember the Padres 1-hitter?)

Notables:

Niese had one of the best games of his life against a recently kinda-resurgent Phillies team. He pitched 9 innings, giving up no runs of 3 hits and 1 walk, striking out 5. That 1 walk didn’t come until 2 out in the 9th.
According to Howie and Josh, the last time a Mets pitcher drove in 3 runs in a game was 1999, when Al Leiter did it with a double as well.
Travis d’Arnaud drove in his 2nd run in the Majors with the sac fly. He went 0-3.
Murphy also collected an RBI with his 3rd inning single.

Thoughts:

What else can be said? The Mets needed this and Jon Niese, another potential huge part of the Mets future, responded brilliantly to everything that has been surrounding this team the last few days. Way to step it up since returning, bro.

Great game, bro.

The Mets look to pick a game up in the series tomorrow night, when LHP Cole Hamels (5-13, 3.62ERA) take on, echem, RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-1, 9.00ERA) at 7:10PM in Queens.

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