The Mets faced a reeling San Francisco Giants team and reeled ’em right in. They also got a measure of revenge against their no-hit nemesis in the process.
Chris Heston started for the Giants and any thought of his repeating his dominant performance in New York went out the window when Ruben Tejada — the second Mets’ batter of the game — roped a fastball into left field. Jon Niese, on the other hand, pitched eight masterful innings and much like Friday night in Los Angeles, the Mets got just enough offense to eke out a win — this time from a couple of unlikely sources. The Mets had runners aboard in seven out of nine innings, but couldn’t push a run home until the ninth. Facing reliever Santiago Casilla, Michael Cuddyer led off with base hit. Newly recalled Kirk Nieuwenhuis followed with a double. Johnny Monell backed up Nieuwenhuis with a double of his own and the Mets had a sudden 2-0 lead. Lucas Duda then pinch hit for Niese and struck out, but Juan Lagares squirted a single through the middle and Monell scampered home with the third run. That was all would-be-All-Star Jeurys Familia would need as he finished the game with a flourish, striking out Angel Pagan and sending the Giants to their eighth consecutive defeat.
Really a terrific win to start the series. Let’s hope the Mets can continue to surprise us on this daunting road trip.
Although it is troubling that the Mets kept having base runners with nothing to show for it and that Heston stymied them again, the end result is all that matters.
Should they hold their own this month and finish it at .500 or better and acquire the right bat for the right price (it doesn’t need to be a big name, just a solid contributor) they should be in good shape for the last two months. Every team has warts, but we only see our own. There a lot of teams that need a pitcher, so there should be ample opportunity to do something.
Word is the Mets sending down either Robles or Verrett to make room for Mejia.
In an alternative universe, Sandy Alderson manages this predictable pipeline better than this.
But let’s see what happens. They traded for and then wildly, insanely miscast A. Torres as a LOOGY (and he’s so not). And C. Torres is out of options. I’ve always respected Carlos; his arm just doesn’t bounce back that well at this point, and there’s too many games where he just doesn’t have it. And one theme to this season has absolutely been: Anything except lose the Rule 5 guy, Gilmartin. Understandable, but it sure seems like it’s driven a lot of personal decisions this year.
Would a trade be so crazy?
At the same time, relievers go up and down, no need to over-react. Just a shame if the Mets ship out a high-functioning asset in order to make room for an asset.
He has pieces to deal: Mejia, Parnell, Colon, Niese, and a veteran outfielder of his choosing 🙂
Metsense speaks of Parra, others talk about Guerrero… The bottom line is it won’t be a Tulo and I really don’t want Castro and his Prima Donna approach. I wouldn’t mind ridding an outfielder and adding Victorino.
The dilemma becomes do you just let Murphy walk away for nothing or resign?
It wasn’t the ’27 Yankees he was facing but Niese did a great job last night. When you come right down to it, Niese has made 16 starts this year and 12 of them have been really good. Here they are broken down into 3 segments:
First 6 — 37 IP, 1.95 ERA
Middle 4 — 20 IP, 9.00 ERA
Last 6 — 41 IP, 2.41 ERA
I’m open to dealing him but we should get back more than a 4th OF
I think we should keep him. It’s Colon who should go, if anyone should. We will need Niese next year, at least until Wheeler comes back strong.
And at least two of those middle four he was hampered by bad defense. Not official errors mind you but missed double plays and mental mistakes.
The Mets winning formula is strong starting pitching, two or three runs, then get the ball to Familia. They have a problem with the two or three run part.
It was good to see Kirk get that double. It was bad to see Kirk get the double because Sandy might consider him the solution.
Sandy should be going srong after Parra because the Brewers are out of it and the Mets have the minor leagues prospects to outbid anyone. That trade would help toward the two or three run part in the winning formula.
Niese again proved he is one of the best fifth starters in baseball. Stock is high, there is a market…..sell!!!! There have been many names thrown around. Castro or Gurerro are just two infielders that could be a match add achieve the winning formula. The Mets don’t need to break up the Fab Five for a star but two smaller pieces that are managed correctly could do the trick. It is the managed correctly part that I worry about.
Doesn’t the team look better when Tejada plays SS over Flores instead of the other way around?
Nero, strike while the coals are hot or they may rekindle and burn you!
Or maybe you keep Niese and value him as your #5 moving forward.
The wild dream has always been (for me) that they could get out of the lousy, misguided, totally unnecessary Colon contract.
Another pipeline issue, bungled.
So nice to not watch an inning of the game and wake up to a win. A hit by Cuddyer in the scoreless 9th. A small thing, but a positive.
Heard on Sportscenter…
The Mets shut out the Dodgers and the Giants in back-to-back road games. This has never happened since they moved to California. Pretty incredible.
That’s awesome!
“Chris Heston started for the Giants and any thought of his repeating his dominant performance in New York went out the window when Ruben Tejada — the second Mets’ batter of the game — roped a fastball into left field. Jon Niese, on the other hand, pitched eight masterful innings ”
Heston pitched 7.1 innings of 0 run 3 hit ball. If that was a line for Syndergaard, it would have been written as major domination. Clearly boh pitchers had great nights against struggling offenses.
I’m super happy for the win, and only had a chance to see some highlights, but let’s not over hype Niese out dueling Heston.
I’ll fill you in since you didn’t get to watch the small things.
Niese was dominating. He only went to 3 ball counts on just two batters, which both ended up becoming walks. Aside from the two walks he gave up, he only went to 2 balls on a batter just three! other times in the game. So he only went to 2 balls or more just 5 of the 29 batters he faced. He was attacking aggressively and taking advantage of a slumping (and probably tired) Giants squad.
Heston was in and trouble out of all night because of walks and poor defense. He gave up 4 walks and 1 HBP and had just 2 k’s. But give him credit because he did get the job done and didn’t allow anyone to cross home plate.
Fair enough. In 16.1 innings Heston has allowed 3 Mets hits. No matter how you cut it, that’s dealing!
Or poor hitting. The way we’re hitting Charlton Heston could hold us scoreless.