New York Mets humiliated 5-14 by Toronto Blue Jays as Jonathon Niese crumbles - MLB Update
Jonathon Niese was pounced upon as starter for the New York Mets costing the club an overwhelming 5-14 loss against Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario on May 18, 2012 in the first game of the three match series.
The Blue Jays welcome Niese with four home runs. As soon as he stepped on the mound, rain of hits trampled him. Hardly will he manage to come out of pain of one home run, another will be struck.
In just three innings, he leaked eight runs. One can imagine the extent to which the Blue Jays will have taken their lead, if he had continued throwing more innings.
He was not an only one who bore the brunt of the Blue Jays’ wrath, reliever Manny Acosta came to share misery with him. Acosta threw two innings and gave up five runs.
It was for first time in the season that the Mets’ offence came across such a monumental challenge. While they tried their best, the lead was just unassailable and getting past it needed a miracle.
The Mets have shown resilience in number of games.
In some occasions, they were trailed by a reasonable lead and yet they managed pulling off win during penultimate innings of the game.
Against quality relievers, perhaps they failed to live up to their come-from-behind kind of reputation.
Unable to draw results from bullpen, the Mets’ manager turned to an unlikely option in the eighth. Calling the catcher Rob Johnson for doing the job, he gave the game an uncanny twist.
It worked however as Johnson threw scoreless inning, far better than what regular relievers did for the team.
''He came out to the mound when we made a pitching change, I think it was in the sixth,'' Johnson said. ''He said 'We might have to have you pitch the eighth. Can you do that?' I said ‘Yeah.'''
The way the Mets were drubbed in the game, in light of a breeze they have been enjoying so far in the season, it was nothing short of nightmare. Not just pitchers were poor, their offence fared equally bad.
As the Mets’ starters have been vulnerable throughout the season, the Blue Jays have exposed their frailties further. This can trigger panic button and can result in sweeping changes in their rotation.
The manager will be looking to go back and make sure pitchers do not give in as early as they did in the game.
Tags: