The Mets and Pirates play would could be a soggy game today at Citi Field. Last night, the Pirates evened the series with a 7-3 win over the Mets. For the Amazin’s yesterday, Marcum couldn’t find it again, allowing 6 ER over 4.2 innings. On the positive side, the Mets did slug two homers out thanks to Recker and Valdespin. Anyway Jon Niese gets the nod today as he goes up against Francisco Liriano in his season debut.
Jon Niese is 2-3 this season over 36.2 innings and 7 starts with a 4.66 ERA. He is coming off of his worst start of the season against Atlanta where he allowed 7 ER in 4.0 innings, really blowing up his ERA. Hurting him in that start was the combinations of hits allowed (7) and walked batters (6). Last season he had one very good outing against the Pirates where he allowed 1 ER over 7.2 innings of work. The Pirates have the following numbers against him:
Sanchez 4-19, 2B, HR
Barmes 4-12, 2B, HR
Martin 1-8, HR
McCutchen 3-6, 2 2B
Tabata 1-2, 2B
Francisco Liriano is not only making his season debut today but also making his debut as a National League pitcher. Last season, between the Twins and the White Sox, Francisco pitched 156.2 innings with a 5.34 ERA and a 6-12 record. He has never faced the Mets in his career, which isn’t too surprising considering he was with the Twins for just about all of it (except for the partial season with Chicago last year). Two Mets have seen him though. Buck is 1-6 with a double and Byrd is 3-4 with 3 RBI’s.
Lets Go Mets!
