Mets glad to be off road
The Mets continue to be maddeningly inconsistent this season, with one of the best home records in the league (19-9) and one of the worst road records (8-18) in baseball.
And they know that to have any chance of staying in the NL East race, they will have to continue to play well at Citi Field.
“To accomplish what we want to accomplish, we’re going to have to play better on the road,” David Wright said. “But thankfully we’ve been able to take care of business at home. Now if we can just find a way to be decent on the road we would be in pretty good shape. We are where we are because of not being able to get the job done on the road.”
They’ll be coming off a loss in San Diego in which they were one strike away from victory before the Padres tied it off of Francisco Rodriguez and then won, 5-1, in the 11th.
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There still has been no movement on the Oliver Perez front, according to the team. If Jon Niese is going to start tomorrow after being activated from the disabled list, the Mets would have to make a roster move, perhaps sending down a reliever like Elmer Dessens or Jenrry Mejia if Perez continues to refuse a demotion to the minors.
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Nationals framhand Stephen Strasburg beat the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate yesterday in Buffalo in what was expected to be his final minor league start. Strasburg pitched five shutout innings in a 7-1 win for Syracuse, striking out five and allowing three hits.
Last year’s top overall pick is slated to make his major league debut in Washington on Tuesday against the Pirates.
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R.A. Dickey looks to improve to 3-0 tonight against Florida’s Anibal Sanchez in the opener of a three-game series. Niese could start tomorrow against Nate Robertson and Hisanori Takahashi will try to bounce back from his last outing, when he allowed six runs in four innings in an 18-6 loss at San Diego on Monday, when he faces Ricky Nolasco in the series finale on Sunday.
