Mets Win it in 10 after a Rocky Debut

It was a debut that could be characterized by one at bat, the first. Facing his first Major League batter of his career, Jonathon Niese gave up a leadoff home run to Milwaukee second baseman Rickie Weeks. Niese could not spot his pitches and walked the next two batters. After getting Prince Fielder to ground out to Carlos Delgado for what should have been a double play, Niese settled in a bit. He began to throw pitches with more accuracy. However, his two strikeouts to end the inning both came from swings at balls in the dirt. In the second inning, the Mets got the offense going early which has seemed like the story of the second half. After a Beltran walk and a Delgado single to left, Fernando Tatis, arguably the acquisition of the year, doubled in Beltran. On the following play, Damion Easley grounded out to the shortstop, allowing Delgado to score. The Mets continued to pump up the score when Beltran hit a home run to right field that bounced off the top of the wall. Going into the fourth, Niese ran into more trouble when he allowed the first to batters to get hits. The third batter of the inning, Brewers pitcher Manny Parra, who can hit very well for a pitcher, double in two runs. The score now being 5-3 with the Mets ahead, Niese gave up a single to Weeks, which was followed by a J.J. Hardy single. After that, Niese was done and Nelson Figueroa came in to stop the bleeding. He struck out the first batter he faced but walked Prince Fielder to load the bases. Corey Hart singled to score Weeks but J.J. Hardy was gunned down at home. From that point on, the Mets bullpen gave up next to nothing and showed Mets fans a sign of hope. Later in the 10th with the score tied 5-5, Daniel Murphy had a pinch hit single and Jose Reyes reached first base on catcher, Jason Kendall's throwing error. Endy Chavez was the next man up, and he got the job done by hitting a sacrifice fly to right field. That was it for the Mets in the tenth, and then came Luis Ayala to close things out. After retiring the first two batters, Ayala allowed the next two runners to get on base with a single and walk. With two men on and two out, Ayala struck out Rickie Weeks swinging to give the Mets their second win of the series against Milwaukee. 

The above photo of Jonathon Niese was shot at spring training and was shot by Orlin Wagner