On second thought, maybe sticking with Jon Niese could be a good move. After Niese was shelled Tuesday night by the Phillies, I suggested the Mets’ best strategy would be to skip Niese Monday in Washington in favor of Steven Matz and stay with Noah Syndergaard Saturday in Miami.
My reasoning is the Washington game is more important to the Mets’ immediate pennant pursuit than conserving Syndergaard’s innings.
However, manager Terry Collins‘ comments to reporters prior to Wednesday’s game gave me pause.
“This was set down a long time ago,” Collins said. “I’m all done juggling all the pieces. I just told Jon last night when I took him out, ‘OK, you’ve had a couple of bad outings. The next game is the biggest game you’ve ever pitched in your life. So get ready for it.’ ”
Collins stayed with Wilmer Flores, Ruben Tejada and on Tuesday with Bobby Parnell in large part to show he wasn’t abandoning them. This seems the same decision for Niese.
While beating the Nationals Monday is important, having a confident Niese is also vital down the stretch and into the playoffs. They Mets will need Niese to be at his mental and emotional best when he pitches in September and hopefully October.
The Mets will throw Niese, Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom against the Nationals’ Max Scherzer, Jordan Zimmerman and Steven Strasburg. Collins will start deGrom, Bartolo Colon and Matz in Miami.
