Have a Niese Memory

[Edgy MD]

I probably have this wrong, but in my memory, he and Fernando Nieve made their first Mets starts in consecutive games during a starter pinch, which was cool in a their-names-are-one-letter-apart kind of way.

[Zvon]

Got easily ruffled too many times for my liking. I liked him for what he was, a homegrown lefty we ran with.

[Gwreck]

Best start:
1-hit shutout against San Diego in 2010; was the second game of a doubleheader. Leadoff double in the third was the only baserunner.
Also, I believe that game featured the last time a triple play was turned against the Mets.

Strangest plate appearance:
Pinch-hit with 2 outs in the bottom of the 11th inning in a game in 2012. Hits a triple into the gap but is stranded at third as the tying run.

[Frayed Knot]

Ended his Mets career with a smaller nose than the one he started with.
But also gave us six straight years of (just shy of) 30 starts per. Never a great pitcher but more good than bad.
Quite possibly ends his NYM career as a Top-30 Met acc to the CPF rankings ... which reminds me.

[Guest themetfairy]

I was at that one-hitter in June 2010. Not a great picture, but it was a great performance -



We also saw him pitch at a stinkin' hot road game in Texas in June 2011. It was a game that the Mets went on to win 14-5, but Niese came out in the 6th inning with a rapid heartbeat.



Niese was confounding. Sometimes he was brilliant, and sometimes he seemed clueless.

Thanks for the good times Jon, and hopefully you'll do well pitching as a Pirate (except against the Mets).

[MFS62]

Most of my memories of Niese involve a lot of my screaming at the TV set.
The rest is all blurry.


Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

[fimg=304:373ijhx2]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5733/23017927223_91366190aa_o.jpg[/fimg:373ijhx2]

[Edgy MD]

Went 1-0 as an Opening Day starter. In fact, his departure almost guarantees that the Mets will have their seventh Opening Day starting pitcher in seven years. The possible way that doesn't happen is if the Mets re-sign Bartolo Colon and give him the nod.

I guess in theory they can re-acquire Dillon Gee or Mike Pelfrey also.

[G-Fafif]

I probably have this wrong, but in my memory, he and Fernando Nieve made their first Mets starts in consecutive games during a starter pinch, which was cool in a their-names-are-one-letter-apart kind of way.

Niese and Nieve made their Met debuts a season apart, but they were always confounding their teacher when she took attendance. (I think they based an episode of Small Wonder on their experience.)

GKR Bobblehead night on August 27, 2013, had to have been Niese's best all-around performance: 3-hit shutout of Phillies, doubled in three runs. Helped take the edge off the news that had just come down re Harvey requiring rehab for coke addiction...I mean Tommy John surgery.

[fimg=360]http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/niese-vols.jpg[/fimg]

This was from one of my quasi-media outings, covering the Mets, which was basically Niese and Jay Horwitz, coming to the aid of Long Beach after Superstorm Sandy. I tried to keep his performance that day -- gracious, helpful, empathetic -- in mind when many of his mound performances went awry. I wasn't always successful.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

Big Niese memory for me! My first -- and so far only -- Citi Field game. On Aug. 5, 2009, we were playing the studly Cardinals and I had broken the Steak of Shame in extra innings in Cincy. This ended up being a second win in a row for me.

Poor Jon didn't last long. He tore a hamstring tendon in the second inning and had to be helped off the field. He seemed to hurt it on a fielding play, then crumpled to the ground after a pitch to see if he was OK. It was heartbreaking. He was out for the rest of the year.

Otherwise a glorious day for the Mets. Nelson Figuerora stepped in and threw 4+ innings of shutout ball. He also hit a two-run triple. Bobby Parnell tossed three innings for his first major league save. Wright and Angel Pagan had two-run homers and the Mets won 9-0. I was there with my Dad, son, cousin Tim and G-FAITH.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Oh, Hawky, my Hawky. First recipient of the Beltran Self-Improvement Foundation's graces. I remember being at a good-Niese start in May 2010 or 2011 against the Phils where he made Howard look silly a few times.

In my mind's eye, he was always either giving you 7 innings of 5-hit/6-7 K/one-run ball, or turning around to mouth curses as he watched curveballs settle into shallow left-center or fly over the left-field wall.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I strongly associate Niese with Muffy, legacy Omar Era prospects just good enough, just determined enough, to last until the eve of a bigger payday. It's sort of appropriate that one deal essentially ends both of their Met careers. I in fact predict that in 23 years Muffy's son will marry Niese's daughter.

At one time I thought Niese might develop into a real force but at some point he messed up his shoulder.

His wife Leah wore "Amazin' blue panties."

Best #49 we ever had.

[Lefty Specialist]

He'll always be born on the day the Mets won the 1986 World Series.

Hated the inconsistency; he could look great for a couple of innings, but then a bad play would be made behind him and he'd huff and puff on the mound and let things snowball. Signed a team-friendly contract when they really needed it. And I guess in the end he wasn't so bad, but I'm not crushed to see him go.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Remember how he left? Remember that Metly parting gift he left in the press?

Rob Biertempfel, Pitt Tribune wrote: Jon Niese: “I’m sure what I’ll appreciate more than anything is the way (#Pirates) play defense. I’m looking forward to that.”

[Edgy MD]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I strongly associate Niese with Muffy, legacy Omar Era prospects just good enough, just determined enough, to last until the eve of a bigger payday. It's sort of appropriate that one deal essentially ends both of their Met careers. I in fact predict that in 23 years Muffy's son will marry Niese's daughter.

Similar beards, worn at seemingly parallel stages in their parallel careers.

[seawolf17]

Never great, but usually good. I liked him.

[seawolf17]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Remember how he left? Remember that Metly parting gift he left in the press? Jon Niese: “I’m sure what I’ll appreciate more than anything is the way (#Pirates) play defense. I’m looking forward to that.”

HANG ON WAIT. EFF THAT GUY, THEN.

[Centerfield]

seawolf17 wrote: Remember how he left? Remember that Metly parting gift he left in the press? Jon Niese: “I’m sure what I’ll appreciate more than anything is the way (#Pirates) play defense. I’m looking forward to that.” HANG ON WAIT. EFF THAT GUY, THEN.

LOL.

Good pitcher. His demeanor probably made us all not appreciate how good he actually was. Few guys gave us this consistency over the years. Which is strange considering we will always remember him for his inconsistency.

Saw Niese pitch on my first visit to Citizen's Bank this year. I remember meeting metfairy in the stands and shaking our heads at him stomping around the mound. Later in the game, he got a hit or something that contributed to the game-winning rally.

I feel like that's him in a nutshell, played a pretty good game, but perhaps unfairly, left a negative impression nonetheless.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Pirates do a lot of that shifty bullshit. Probably important to Niese who no longer knows how to strike out people.

[Frayed Knot]

In fairness to Niese's parting comments about the defense, he was the victim of some particularly poor timing this past year buy he gloves behind him.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Won 61 games as a Met, the same number as Tom Glavine, which leaves him in a tie for 11th place on the all-time list. If he had stuck around and won six more games, he would have bumped Steve Trachsel out of the top ten. (Trachsel is safe for a while. The leading active player still on the Mets is Matt Harvey, with 25 wins, followed by Jacob deGrom with 23.)

Niese and Daniel Murphy were two of the final three players whose Mets tenures dated back to the Shea Stadium days. (He made two starts at Shea in 2008.) David Wright becomes the last Shea Stadium Met. The last remaining Met from the Polo Grounds was, obviously, Ed Kranepool.

I'm glad Niese was able to remain a Met long enough to pitch in a World Series for them.

[Edgy MD]

Shea Stadium Bobby Parnell isn't quite a goner yet.

[Benjamin Grimm]

True! I forgot all about him!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Frayed Knot wrote: In fairness to Niese's parting comments about the defense, he was the victim of some particularly poor timing this past year buy he gloves behind him.

This is true. I didn't mean to say it was undue backhanded criticism... just maybe mildly untoward.

[smg58]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I'm glad Niese was able to remain a Met long enough to pitch in a World Series for them.

That sums it up pretty well. He had good stretches and bad stretches, but overall he was basically OK. Guys who are "OK" tend to be looked on favorably when they play for bad teams, and less favorably when they play for good teams, and I think that was true of Niese. He deserves a lot of credit (and a warm ovation the first time he pitches in Citi) for helping get the team through the lean years, but I also think it was a good time and a good way to move on.

[TransMonk]

Niese's biggest problem, in my eyes, was that he never had the talent nor the mental toughness to be able to pitch through adversity and jams (whether they were caused by himself or failures of the defense).

I doubt that will change in the steel city.

[Centerfield]

I used Niese as a teaching tool for my son. He had a really bad inning where he gave up some hits and also felt like he was getting squeezed by the ump. He started stomping around and lost his command. He ended up giving up 5 runs that inning.

Afterwards, I talked to him about Jon Niese and how we always groaned when things started trending downhill for him. I think the message hit home. He was determined not to be that guy. I told him you're going to have some rough spots when pitching. Do you want to be Jon Niese or Jacob deGrom?

After that, any time he started to get into trouble, I could see him trying to get tough, put a really adorable scowl on his face, and push his way through the inning.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

See, CF, THAT you should Tweet to Niese.

[smg58]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: See, CF, THAT you should Tweet to Niese.

But why help out the Pirates?

[Guest 86-Dreamer]

I'll mostly remember how well he pitched in relief this postseason.