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Uneven vs. D-backs, Niese hopes for another start
- Updated: August 18, 2016
PHOENIX — Mets starting pitcher Jonathon Niese and D-backs left fielder Rickie Weeks Jr. have the type of relationship that can be measured in both years and distance.
The two veterans go back, sometimes way back, and often at Niese’s expense.
Back on Sept. 2, 2008, when Weeks was a young second baseman with the Brewers, he launched the second career pitch from Niese, then a 21-year-old in his big league debut, into the left-field stands in Milwaukee.
A rookie pitcher giving up a home run is not a big deal, even if it’s the first batter he has ever faced. Besides, Weeks would go on to hit 144 more home runs, mostly with the Brewers. Niese went on to give up 128 more homers, primarily with the Mets.
But nearly eight years later, Weeks, 33, now a role player in Arizona, tagged Niese again during Wednesday night’s 13-5 D-backs victory, and this one stung. Niese, who was acquired from the Pirates at the Aug. 1 non-waiver Trade Deadline, was out to prove he deserved a spot in the Mets’ starting rotation and that the home run problem that plagued him in Pittsburgh (he gave up 21 with the Pirates) was behind him.
Did Niese, who was making his first start with Mets this season and his first since July 10, do enough? He threw 82 pitches and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. He still expects to pitch …
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