Jonathon Niese

Where would this team be without Matt Harvey? Is it safe to say that as of this moment, the only proven and legit core player under the age of 30 this team has is The Dark Knight of Gotham? I like Jon Niese a lot, but is he a core player? Or just an number three pitcher who plays the role of an ace on a very bad team? I quickly threw some numbers into a spreadsheet and I can’t believe how appalling the numbers are once you take Harvey out of the equation. Two of our top three starters have...Read Full Story

Including this weekend’s 11-2 flameout loss to Pittsburgh, the Mets have lost Jon Niese’s last five starts, with him giving up 22 runs and not getting out of the fifth inning in three of them. He has not come close to resembling what the Mets think he should be, and that’s the No. 1 starter in their rotation. The first game in that slide, April 18 at Colorado, and the one preceding it, April 12, at Minnesota, were played in temperatures in the high 20s. I spoke personally to manager Terry...Read Full Story

There will be days like Sunday, where the meltdown is complete in all phases, beginning with Jon Niese, who had an inability to get hitters out, an offense that offered little resistance to Tim Hudson, and a porous defense. It’s not alarming the Mets couldn’t do anything against Hudson, but what should be a source of concern is Niese, who was hit hard in his fourth straight start – all lost by the Mets – and this one by the score of 9-4 against a division rival. Manager Terry Collins said...Read Full Story

The other day I noticed my kid was reading this book that I recognized from when I was around his age. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach. The short novel about the transcendent ascension of a seagull who refused to be confined by the boundaries of his own defining limitations. He flew higher, faster, until he became a kind of zen master of flight and was even able to teleport if I recall. Like most everything, it got me thinking about the Mets and a guy on the team named Jonathon...Read Full Story

The New York Mets wind up winning two out of three games in opening series against the San Diego Padres. All three games featured excellent starting pitching for the Mets, and the first two games featured some pretty decent offense for the Amazins’ too! Here are the 3&3 for the series. Matt Harvey: The kid was outstanding – make that brilliant – in Wednesday night’s game. Matt Harvey tossed seven shutout innings, and struck out ten batters while allowing just one hit. From the outset of the...Read Full Story