The Mets suffered a tough loss last night as the offense couldn't get going and couldn't back up the pitching which only allowed 2 runs. Anyway they will try to wash last night away with a win tonight as they take on Barry Zitio and the Giants for game 2 of this series.
Before the All-Star break, Niese had a good start, but picked up the loss as the Mets offense couldn't back him ( 3 ER over 7.2 IP). On the season Niese is 6-3 with a 3.61 ERA. In his last three games pitched he has logged 20.2 innings with a 1.74 ERA. In his short career as a pitcher, he has not faced the Giants yet and in fact, has only faced one player on the Giants, Sanchez, who is 0-3 against Jon. If the Mets are going to make a run in the second half, they will need Jon to keep doing what he was doing late in the first half (ie using his cutter and curveball to keep the opposition from scoring).
Zito has been having a great year for the Giants as he a 3.76 ERA with a 7-4 record. He has no decisions in his last three starts in which he has a 5.63 ERA (mainly due to one bad start surrounded two above average starts). While hasn't faced the Mets yet this season, but last season he picked up the loss in one game as the Mets tagged him for three runs over 5 innings of work. Over the years, the Mets have posted these numbers on Barry:
Wright 4-11, 2B
Reyes 1-11, 2B
Francoeur 2-5, 2 2B
Pagan 2-5, HR
Lets Go Mets! (Also, programming note, I'll be alway from a computer for the rest of the weekend, so I'll resume game previews on Monday. However, make sure to still visit 213 Miles From Shea, as some articles will be posting on their own this weekend).
