By Kenneth Teape (@teapester725)
Post Game Recap
After a one hour, 28 minutes rain delay, the New York Mets were able to continue their strong play,
once again on the back of a dominant starting pitching performance. Tonight it
was Jon Niese who led the charge, as the Mets defeated the Philadelphia
Phillies 6-1 to take Game 1 of the quick two game series. The victory moves the
Mets record to 15-11, the highest above .500 on the season, and an impressive
7-3 away from Citi Field. The 15 wins are the most for the Amazins’ in the
month of April since 2007. The Phillies drop to 13-13 with the loss.
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| Calista Condo/South Jersey Times |
Niese had yet another tough draw from Mother Nature, as it
rained and was cold throughout the evening, but it did not slow down Niese.
Niese was not as affected by the weather as people would think, saying, “It was
another cold one. It seems like the more I pitch in cold weather, the more I
figure out how to stay warm. It wasn’t as bad as last time (last Thursday in 30
MPH winds). I thought the wind was going to be a lot worse than it was. And it
wasn’t that bad. It rained a little bit and was cold. But I was in the dugout
trying to stay warm and I was able to.”
Whatever Niese did the Mets have to hope he continues to do
so. Against the Phillies Tuesday he was on his game, tossing seven strong
innings. He allowed only one run, a homer to former Met Marlon Byrd, in the
fourth inning. Other than that, he scattered three other hits and one walk to
go along with five strikeouts.
He was able to help himself out at the plate tonight as
well, drawing a bases loaded walk to force a run across in the fourth inning.
Niese and the Mets were opposed by Cole Hamels tonight, who
was making his second start of the season, and he did not fair the poor weather
conditions as well. The Mets were able to get at Hamels pretty well, knocking
him around in his 4.2 innings of work. The Mets offense was able to produce
eight hits and fine walks off of Hamels, and converted that into six runs.
Hamels struck out three to round out his stat line.
Daniel Murphy and Ruben Tejada both had multi-hit games, as
Murphy went 3-5 and Tejada went 2-3 with a walk. Both players scored a run,
while Murphy added one RBI and Tejada had two.
The heart of the Mets order produced tonight also, as Chris
Young, Curtis Granderson and Josh Satin all went 1-3. Young added two runs and
one RBI with a walk, Granderson had one run and walk, and Satin had one run and
one RBI.
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| Calista Condo/South Jersey Times |
It was a good thing the Mets got their damage done against
Hamels, as the Phillies’ bullpen came in and shut them down, allowing only one
hit in 4.1 innings with three strikeouts.
For the Mets, Daisuke Matsuzaka continues to be a weapon out
of the bullpen in late game situations. Tonight he tossed a scoreless eighth
inning, striking out one and walking one. Jose Valverde also tossed a scoreless
ninth inning, surrendering one hit.
The final game of the series Wednesday night will see
Bartolo Colon (2-3, 4.50 ERA) take on Kyle Kendrick (0-2, 3.52 ERA) as the
Phillies will attempt to split the series.
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