Jerry Manuel said he wants his young pitchers to skip a start occasionally to get revitalized. That could be happening to Jonathon Niese, thanks to an off day this Thursday and his poor performance yesterday.
Niese, after yesterday’s 14-1 loss to the Diamondbacks, was adamant, though, that he doesn’t want to lose a turn.
The Mets open a three-game set in Atlanta tonight, followed by a three-game set in Philadelphia beginning Friday. In pregame yesterday, Manuel said a good performance by Niese would probably mean the Mets would skip Hisanori Takahashi while starting Niese on Friday, Johan Santana on Saturday and R.A. Dickey on Sunday.
Niese proceeded to have a bizarre outing. He pitched 3 1/3 hitless innings before giving up a pair of three-run homers to Adam LaRoche.
After Niese allowed a career-high seven runs (six earned) in 4 1/3 innings, Manuel said he wasn’t yet sure about the upcoming rotation. So it’s possible the Mets could skip Niese and start Takahashi on Friday.
“I’ve never been told [about possibly missing a start] and I don’t want to skip a start,” Niese said. “Obviously I want to be out there every five days. I feel good, and if I feel good, I want to get out there.”
Niese, the 23-year-old lefty, is 7-5 this season with a 3.78 ERA. He was 6-2 with a 2.58 ERA in his previous 10 starts before yesterday’s. So when Manuel mentioned skipping him, it prompted a question of whether the rookie has a Phil Hughes-esque innings limit.
But Manuel insisted none exists, perhaps because Niese pitched 178 innings in 2008. This season he has thrown 112 in 19 starts, and assuming he makes 10 or 11 more starts at the same innings average, he would still be under 180.
Yesterday Niese allowed his first hit with one out in the fourth when Kelly Johnson singled to center. Justin Upton singled before LaRoche drilled a three-run shot to right for a 3-0 Arizona lead.
Catcher Josh Thole said he thought LaRoche’s homer deflated Niese a little bit. In the fifth, LaRoche belted another three-run shot to right.
“It looked like he was flat today,” Manuel said of Niese. “I didn’t see a real good curveball. I didn’t see a good sinker. I didn’t see a good cutter.”
Said Niese, “I kind of got a little flat there. . . . I thought they made the adjustment well and I didn’t counter adjust to their adjustment.”
— With Mike Puma
