Back in January of this year, I wrote a segment about Jon Niese, who at the time was getting little attention. A few magazines were listing him in the Mets top 10, but he wasn't being talked about a lot. Now after this week, and as it starts to become clear that the Mets might need a number 5 starter, and people are looking at the young pitcher. Jon Niese, 21, could be making the next big step soon to the major leagues. Back when I wrote that article, I didn't think we would be seeing Niese at all at Shea, and that we would be waiting at least to 2010. Niese throws strikes and strikes out a lot but his ERA was not showing his true effectiveness last year. In the Minors up to that point, he had a 4.05 ERA.

Niese has been in Binghamton most of this year, and was recently moved up to AAA. In AA, he had a 6-7 record over 124.1 innings pitched. He posted a 3.04 ERA, 44 BB and then an amazing 112 K's. That drop in ERA and that split between his BB and his K's show that the has matured a lot this year. He has had one start so far in AAA where he got the win allowing one run over 7 innings. He had 2 walks and 7 K's.

In case you were wondering, the Mets drafted Niese in the 7th round of the 2005 draft.

The Mets get a break from a rough three series with a series against Houston (and then San Diego) in a full month of August ball. The Series does have a few story lines for the Mets:
    Will they regain first place?
    Will Santana or Maine become the first pitcher for the Mets this year to get double digit wins?
    How will Pedro perform?
    Is Maine all right?
The Mets will try to find the answers to these questions as they battle against Backe, Oswalt and Wolf. In 5 games against the Mets (3 starts), Backe is 1-2 over 18.1 innings with a 5.40 ERA. In his last 11 games pitched, he is 2-5 with a 5.28 ERA. He is also a worse pitcher at home. Last year, Oswalt went 1-1 in two games against the Mets with a 4.50 ERA. I have never liked Oswalt and I hope we destroy him. In Wolf's first game with the Astros, he lasted 4.1 innings and 3 earned (4 unearned) runs, leading to an early exit. He destroyed the Mets earlier this year over 7 innings allowing one run. He has not pitched in Houston this year, but in his career he has a 4.73 ERA there.
The Phillies have to handle the Cards this weekend so this is the perfect time for the Mets to start picking up steam again. They had momentum, they sputtered a little bit against the Marlins, but now is the time to get back on track and continue to push through the Dog days of summer, to get to the postseason, Lets Go Mets!