Game #24: Astros 6, Mets 3

Jonathon Niese drops first game of the regular season during a three-inning outing Tuesday night. (NYDailyNews.com)

In Space City, Houston blasted off multiple times off Jon Niese.

Niese was rocked for 5 runs in his first 2 innings and the Mets couldn't catch up, dropping the game and the series to the Astros, 6-3.

The Bad Stuff:

• All it took were two bad pitches. After allowing a leadoff hit in the 1st, Jon Niese served up a high fastball to Jed Lawrie, who smashed it into the left foul pole to give Houston a quick 2-0 lead. Niese didn't fare much better in the 2nd, allowing back-to-back singles to start that inning and giving Chris Snyder the same pitch Lawrie got; Snyder blasted off and the Astros had a 5-0 lead the Mets would not catch up to. Niese finished with those 5 runs on 6 hits in 3 innings; simply put, he just didn't have it tonight.
• After New York got it to 5-3, Miguel Batista killed the momentum and walked in another run in the 6th, making it 6-3.
• J.A. Happ was touchable, but once he left the Houston bullpen shut down any chance the Mets had to rally, holding them to 1 hit over the final 2.2 innings, with closer Brett Myers sitting the orange and blue down 1-2-3 in the 9th for his 6th save and bring his ERA down to a stellar 1.17.
• So good over the past few days, the 1-2 punch of Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Ruben Tejada was held in check, going 0-8 with no walks and 4 Ks.

The Good Stuff:

• The Mets fought back valiantly after falling behind early: Justin Turner led off the 4th with a double and eventually came in on an Andres Torres single; one batter later, Josh Thole drove in a second run.
• New York added one more run in the 5th when Scott Hairston singled in Turner.
• The best offensive lines of the day were as follows:
• Justin Turner (1-3, walk, 2 runs)
• David Wright (2-4)
• Scott Hairston (1-3, walk, RBI)
• Andres Torres/Josh Thole (RBI each)
• Ramon Ramirez and Jon Rauch combined for 2.1 scoreless innings to close it out.

Final Analysis:
Last night was one of those "meh" losses, tonight's loss stings a little more. Jon Niese was not his normal self and a bad stretch at the beginning of his start buried the Mets in a hole they couldn't get out of. Now back down to earth, New York must focus on salvaging tomorrow's Chris Schwinden start and returning to Citi Field on Friday against Arizona on a high note.

MM