The Mets look to bounce back from last night's close game with a win tonight as they take on the Nationals for game two. The Mets pitching for the most part was effective last night, but the difference in the game came from the Mets not being able to take advantage of scoring opportunities. The Mets were able to scratch out a run in the bottom of the ninth on the Pagan solo blast, but were not able to get another run in to tie the game. Tonight the Mets will send out Niese to try to team the Nationals, who counter with Olsen.
Niese is 1-1 on the year over 6 games and 35 innings pitched with a 3.60 ERA. In his last three games, he has pitched 18.1 innings with an ERA of 2.95. Niese has never played the Nationals in his short career but he has faced a few of the Nationals hitters:
Morgan 2-3
Pudge 1-3
What has made Niese effective is his ability to not only to mix his pitches, but merging his pitches to come out of the same release point. When his curveball does not come out of the same slot as the fastball, thats when he starts to get lit up. He just needs to avoid that situation from arising.
Over five games this season, Olsen is 2-1 with a 3.54 ERA. However, he has been devestating in his last three games where he has pitched 20.1 innings and has an ERA of 0.44. Last season he faced the Mets once allowing 2 ER in 6 innings of work. Over his career, the Mets have been able to put these numbers on him:
Wright 10-35, 5 2B, 3 HR
Francoeur 7-29, 3 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR
Bay 1-11
Those numbers look good. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Nats!
