The New York Mets caught a break Tuesday when their game against the Florida Marlins was postponed and rescheduled for July. With all the injuries, an extra-inning loss the night before and a bout against a solid lineup and streaking pitcher, it was best for the whole team to get a day of rest.
Wednesday night Jon Niese will no longer face the Marlins young and upcoming lineup. Instead, he'll take on one of the worst offenses in baseball in the Washington Nationals. The Nats rank 25th or worse in runs, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Niese will look to continue his solid stretch of pitching performances and give the Mets a quality outing, which is definitely needed now with key contributors of the offense out.
Tom Gorzelanny takes the mound for the Nationals tonight. He's 2-21 on the year with a 3.40 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, with just 29 hits given up in 42 1/3 innings. With an unsustainable .189 batting average on balls in play, though, don't expect all the nice rates to continue. He's on a roll -- allowing more than two earned runs once in his past six starts -- but part of it is definitely luck-induced.
The regular season series is tied 3-3.