Mets vs. Phillies Preview, Lineups, And Broadcast Info: Game #131 — Jonathon Niese vs. Kyle Kendrick

Today's game notes, courtesy of @Mets.

Teams: Mets vs. Phillies
Date: Thursday, August 30, 2012 • 1:05 p.m
Location: Citizens Bank Park • Philadelphia, PA
Starters: LHP Jonathon Niese (10-7, 3.51) vs. RHP Kyle Kendrick (7-9, 4.12)
TV/Radio: SNY • WFAN • WQBU
Info: Game #131 • Road Game #66

Lineup

Mike Baxter – RF
Daniel Murphy – 2B
David Wright – 3B
Ike Davis – 1B
Lucas Duda – LF
Scott Hairston – CF
Ronny Cedeno – SS
Josh Thole – C
Jonathon Niese – LHP

METS AT A GLANCE: New York has won four games in a row for the first time since they won four straight from June 27-30...The Mets won a season-high five consecutive games May 5-9...The Mets are 4-6 in their last 10 games...New York is 15-29 (11-14 on the road) since the All-Star break...The Mets are 11-15 this month.

ON THE ROAD: The Mets are 2-0 on their current nine-game road trip, the club’s second-longest of the season...The Mets are 31-34 on the road this year after going 43-38 away from Citi Field in 2011...David Wright is second in the National League with a .338 road batting average.

AT PHILLY: The Mets are 7-1 at Citizens Bank Park this season...The last time the Mets won seven or more games in Philadelphia was in 1972 when they went 8-1...In 1969 and 1970, the Mets went 7-2 at Philadelphia...The Mets have also won five straight games in Philadelphia the club’s longest single-season winning streak in this city since 1972 (also five)...New York’s 10 overall wins vs. the Phillies are the most since the clubs posted 11 victories in 2006.

SERIES: With last night’s victory the Mets clinched their third series win of three or more games at Philadelphia this season...The only other time the Mets won three series of three or more games in Philadelphia in a single season was in 1989, when the team won three separate series, two games to one...New York has won its second straight series after winning two of three from Houston...The last time the team won consecutive series was June 28-July 5, when the Mets took three of four from the Dodgers and two of three from the Phillies.

VS. PHILLIES: The Mets have won the first two games of this series ...The last time New York swept a three-game series from the Phillies was earlier this year, May 7-9 at Citizens Bank Park...The Mets have five series sweeps this season.

ONE-RUN GAMES: New York improved to 17-16 in one-run decisions, including 2-0 vs. the Phillies in such games this year.

COMEBACK: New York posted its 20th come-from-behind win of the year last night after trailing 2-1 after the second inning...It was the second straight comeback win for the team...The Mets have seven come-from-behind victories over the Phillies this year.

DAY BASEBALL: Daniel Murphy (.343) and David Wright (.337) own the top two batting averages in the National League during day games...New York is 27-20 in day games this season, including 13-10 on the road...The 27 victories are tied for the third-most in the majors.

LUCAS DUDA: Connected on a two-run go-ahead home run last night...Seven of his 13 home runs this season have either tied the game or put the Mets ahead...Duda is hitting .364 (4-11) with three runs scored and three RBI in three games since he was recalled from Buffalo (AAA) of the International League.

RISP: The Mets went 1-10 with runners in scoring position last night and are 8-for-their-last-55 (.145) with RISP...The Mets are hitting .172 (32-186) with runners in scoring position since August 1...The Mets are hitting .251 with RISP on the season, ranking 17th in the majors...The Mets are hitting .266 with runners in scoring position and two outs, the third-highest average in the majors.

TWO-OUTS: The Mets have scored 240 two-out runs this year, which is the fifth-most in the majors...New York is hitting .261 with two outs, the fifth-highest average in the majors...New York’s pitching staff has permitted 221 runs with two outs, the 12th-most in the majors.

WRIGHT IN CBP: David Wright has the most home runs by a visiting player at Citizens Bank Park...Wright has connected on 16 home runs in 72 career games in this park.

WRIGHT RANKINGS: David Wright is second in the majors with a .408 on-base percentage, tied for fifth with 36 doubles and is eighth with a .315 batting average...Wright is tied for eighth in the National League with 77 runs scored...He is tied for seventh in the NL with 55 extra-base hits...Wright is eighth in the NL with a .322 batting average with runners in scoring position.

METS STARTERS: Mets starters rank eighth in the majors with a 3.82 ERA...The starters have posted a 2.63 ERA (21 earned runs/72.0 innings) over their last 11 games and over their last 16 contests they have a 2.93 ERA (34 earned runs/104.1 innings).

JONATHON NIESE: Has worked 7.0 innings or more in nine of his last 11 starts...Niese has also pitched 7.0 or more innings and allowed no more than one run in six of his last 11 starts...Niese has 10 wins, one shy of his career-high which he established in 2011...Niese ranks 10th in the National League with a 3.10 ERA (25 earned runs/72.2 innings) on the road.

HARVEY HISTORY: Matt Harvey has pitched 6.0 or more innings and allowed two or fewer runs in four straight starts the longest such stretch in a single-season by a Mets rookie since Jae Seo hurled 6.0 or more innings and surrendered two or fewer runs in six straight starts, May 20- June 17, 2003...Harvey has pitched 6.0 or more innings in five of his seven starts this season.

AT THE PLATE: Matt Harvey went 1-2 with an RBI last night...Harvey is batting .462 (6-13) on the year...He has six hits, including two doubles in 13 at-bats, that’s the fewest at-bats that any Mets pitcher has needed to reach six hits in his major league career.

BULLPEN: The Mets bullpen tossed 2.2 scoreless and hitless innings last night...The pen has not allowed a run in its last five games, spanning 13.1 innings...They have allowed three hits, issued four walks and notched nine strikeouts during that stretch.

FRANK FRANCISCO: Pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 22nd save...Francisco has converted 22 of 25 save chances and ranks 11th in the National League in saves...Francisco has posted a 2.55 ERA (seven earned runs/24.2 innings) in save opportunities.

ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE: The Mets will send seven players to the Arizona Fall League to play for Surprise...They include right-handed pitchers Ryan Fraser and Greg Peavey, left-handed pitchers Chase Huchingson, Adam Kolarek, infielder Danny Muno and outfielders Darrell Ceciliani and Cesar Puello...St. Lucie Manager Ryan Ellis will be the hitting coach for the team...The Arizona Fall League begins play on October 9.

LAST START: Received a loss when the Mets fell to the Astros, 3-1, at Citi Field on August 24...Pitched 7.0 innings, allowing three runs, earned six hits, one home run, and two walks...Struck out five in the 108-pitch outing...Has won double-digit games for the second consecutive season...Won a career-high 11 games last season.

EXTRA REST: Niese will pitch on extra rest tonight against the Phillies...In 15 starts with extra rest this season (five days or more), he is 6-3 with a 2.29 ERA (25 earned runs/98.1 innings pitched)...Conversely, In 10 starts on regular rest (four days) this season, Niese is 4-4 with a 5.49 ERA (37 earned runs/60.2 innings).

HOME RUNS: Niese has given up a home run in seven of his last 10 starts, dating to July 3...Has given up a career-high tying 20 home runs this season...Gave up a career-high four home runs in his start on May 18 at Toronto.

WALKS: Has allowed 15 walks in his last 15 starts, a span of 103.2 innings pitched, dating to June 3...Has walked more than one four times in those 15 starts...Prior to this stretch, Niese had allowed 18 base-on-balls over a six-start stretch (29.2 innings pitched) from May 1 to May 28...Niese’s 25.1 innings without a walk marks the longest streak by a Mets pitcher since 2011, when Mike Pelfrey went 25.0 innings without a base-on-balls from June 2-24.

RARE COMPANY: Niese has issued eight walks in his last nine starts and became the seventh pitcher in Mets history to throw at least 7.0 innings and not walk a batter in three consecutive starts (July 8-27) in one season...The last major league pitcher to do that was Cliff Lee, who did it in four straight starts in June, 2010.

INNINGS PITCHED: Since June 10, Niese has pitched 97.2 innings, spanning 14 starts, 13th-most in the majors and ninth in the NL over that time...Has thrown at least 7.0 innings in 11 of his last 14 starts.

SCORELESS STREAK: In his last start, Niese had a scoring streak of 14.1 innings snapped...The streak dated from the third inning against the Braves on August 12th to the second inning against the Astros on August 24...This was the longest such streak of this season and of his career.

RECENT SUCCESS: In his previous 17 starts dating to May 23, Niese is 8-5 with a 3.02 ERA (39 earned runs/116.1 innings pitched)...Has a 7.35 K/9 mark and 12 quality starts over that stretch...Has compiled a 1.61 ERA (four earned runs/22.1 innings) over his last three starts...Has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 18 of his 25 starts this season.

SUCCESS VS. LEFTIES: Niese has held left-handed hitters to a .239 batting average (26-109) this season, with two home runs and six walks...Conversely, Niese has allowed 18 home runs and 34 walks to right-handers...Niese held lefties to a .259 average and .357 slugging percentage during the 2011 season… Allowed only 10 extra-base hits (two home runs and eight doubles) to left-handed batters last season, which was tied for 10th-fewest in the National League.

DAY/NIGHT SPLITS: In 10 starts during the day this season, Niese is 4-1 with a 2.85 ERA (21 earned runs/66.1 innings)...In 15 night starts, the left-hander is 6-6 with a 3.98 ERA (41 earned runs/92.2 innings)...Niese has allowed 15 of his 20 home runs this season during night games...For his career, Niese has compiled a 13-9 record with a 3.65 ERA (77 earned runs/190.0 innings pitched) during the day in 32 starts, compared to his 19-21 mark with a 4.40 ERA (166 earned runs/339.2 innings pitched) at night in 57 starts.

CAREER-HIGH STRIKEOUTS: On June 3 vs St. Louis, Niese established a new career-high in strikeouts with 10...His previous high was eight, done four times previous, most recently on June 9, 2011 at Milwaukee...He is the third of the four Mets starter this season to record at least one game with double-digit strikeouts.

CONTRACT EXTENSION: Niese signed a five-year contract extension on April 7, which includes two club options that could keep him with the team through 2018.

LAST WIN VS. PHILADELPHIA: Won, 11-1, at Citi Field on July 3... Pitched 8.0 innings and allowed one run, earned, three hits, a home run and two walks... Struck out three.

LAST LOSS VS. PHILADELPHIA: Lost, 9-4, at Citizens Bank Park on August 23, 2011...Pitched 4.0 innings and allowed eight runs, earned, 10 hits, one walk, and two home runs...Struck out six.

CAREER VS. PHILADELPHIA: In 12 career games, all starts, Niese is 5-4 with a 3.56 ERA (29 earned runs/73.1 innings pitched) vs the Phillies.

KEY MATCHUPS:

• Placido Polanco - .344 (11-32, 5 2B, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K)
• John Mayberry - .280 (7-25, 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 3 K)
• Carlos Ruiz - .353 (6-17, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K)