Mets At Rockies: With A (Likely) Patched Together Lineup, Niese Needs To Be Strong

Even on a day in which a game is postponed, the New York Mets still found a way to get their name in the sports pages -- and yet again, there is some injury news to report. Ike Davis was flown to New York to have his sore right calf examined (he was seen wearing a protective boot after the game on Tuesday) and a text from Davis to Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal said, "Calf fine ankle sore (sic) mri right now." Fernando Martinez is expected to fly to Colorado today, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNY, so it seems as if Davis will be put on the DL (though no official word has been released)-- but no matter what, it appears likely that he'll miss Thursday afternoon's game against the Colorado Rockies.

No matter Davis' health, the Mets will be playing with a sub-optimal lineup this afternoon against the Rockies. David Wright, who has been battling a cranky back, will probably get today off as he was slated to receive Wednesday off (plus Thursday, which was an off day). Daniel Murphy will probably play first, Justin Turner third and either Willie Harris or Chin-Lung Hu second base. Jon Niese, who has allowed more than two earned runs (which was three) once in his past four starts, will pitch for New York. He's 1-4 with a 4.71 ERA and 1.48 WHIP on the year. Against Colorado a month ago, he allowed five runs in six innings.

With the Mets' lineup possibly being constructed as mentioned previously, they will have a tough time scoring runs. Couple that with the fact that Ubaldo Jimenez is starting for the Rockies, and they'll need a near-flawless outing from Niese to stay in this game, a very tall task in Coors Field. Jimenez hasn't been nearly as dominating this season (and was on the DL once this year) -- 0-2, 5.88 ERA, 1.46 WHIP -- but his last start was his best, a six-inning one-run affair against the San Francisco Giants in which he struckout seven, but walked five. Walks have been the killer for him this season -- and if the Mets can make him throw strikes and convert on their baserunners, they would have a feasible chance of pulling this one out -- that is, unless Troy Tulowitzki goes bizerk against against them. Tulowitzki hit a homerun against New York on Tuesday -- and the Mets have to hope they didn't awaken him from his recent funk at the plate.