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Have a Niese Memory

Edgy MD Dec 10 2015 03:11 AM

I probably have this wrong, but in my memory, he and Fernando Nieve made their first Mets starts in consecutive games during a starter pinch, which was cool in a their-names-are-one-letter-apart kind of way.

Zvon Dec 10 2015 03:21 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Got easily ruffled too many times for my liking. I liked him for what he was, a homegrown lefty we ran with.

Gwreck Dec 10 2015 03:31 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Best start: 1-hit shutout against San Diego in 2010; was the second game of a doubleheader. Leadoff double in the third was the only baserunner. Also, I believe that game featured the last time a triple play was turned against the Mets. Strangest plate appearance: Pinch-hit with 2 outs in the bottom of the 11th inning in a game in 2012. Hits a triple into the gap but is stranded at third as the tying run.

Frayed Knot Dec 10 2015 03:44 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Ended his Mets career with a smaller nose than the one he started with. But also gave us six straight years of (just shy of) 30 starts per. Never a great pitcher but more good than bad. Quite possibly ends his NYM career as a Top-30 Met acc to the CPF rankings ... which reminds me.

themetfairy Dec 10 2015 03:52 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

I was at that one-hitter in June 2010. Not a great picture, but it was a great performance - We also saw him pitch at a stinkin' hot road game in Texas in June 2011. It was a game that the Mets went on to win 14-5, but Niese came out in the 6th inning with a rapid heartbeat. Niese was confounding. Sometimes he was brilliant, and sometimes he seemed clueless. Thanks for the good times Jon, and hopefully you'll do well pitching as a Pirate (except against the Mets).

MFS62 Dec 10 2015 04:08 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Most of my memories of Niese involve a lot of my screaming at the TV set. The rest is all blurry. Later

batmagadanleadoff Dec 10 2015 04:21 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

[fimg=304:373ijhx2]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5733/23017927223_91366190aa_o.jpg[/fimg:373ijhx2]

Edgy MD Dec 10 2015 04:26 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Went 1-0 as an Opening Day starter. In fact, his departure almost guarantees that the Mets will have their seventh Opening Day starting pitcher in seven years. The possible way that doesn't happen is if the Mets re-sign Bartolo Colon and give him the nod. I guess in theory they can re-acquire Dillon Gee or Mike Pelfrey also.

G-Fafif Dec 10 2015 04:53 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

I probably have this wrong, but in my memory, he and Fernando Nieve made their first Mets starts in consecutive games during a starter pinch, which was cool in a their-names-are-one-letter-apart kind of way. Niese and Nieve made their Met debuts a season apart, but they were always confounding their teacher when she took attendance. (I think they based an episode of Small Wonder on their experience.) GKR Bobblehead night on August 27, 2013, had to have been Niese's best all-around performance: 3-hit shutout of Phillies, doubled in three runs. Helped take the edge off the news that had just come down re Harvey requiring rehab for coke addiction...I mean Tommy John surgery. [fimg=360]http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/niese-vols.jpg[/fimg] This was from one of my quasi-media outings, covering the Mets, which was basically Niese and Jay Horwitz, coming to the aid of Long Beach after Superstorm Sandy. I tried to keep his performance that day -- gracious, helpful, empathetic -- in mind when many of his mound performances went awry. I wasn't always successful.

Mets Guy in Michigan Dec 10 2015 04:57 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Big Niese memory for me! My first -- and so far only -- Citi Field game. On Aug. 5, 2009, we were playing the studly Cardinals and I had broken the Steak of Shame in extra innings in Cincy. This ended up being a second win in a row for me. Poor Jon didn't last long. He tore a hamstring tendon in the second inning and had to be helped off the field. He seemed to hurt it on a fielding play, then crumpled to the ground after a pitch to see if he was OK. It was heartbreaking. He was out for the rest of the year. Otherwise a glorious day for the Mets. Nelson Figuerora stepped in and threw 4+ innings of shutout ball. He also hit a two-run triple. Bobby Parnell tossed three innings for his first major league save. Wright and Angel Pagan had two-run homers and the Mets won 9-0. I was there with my Dad, son, cousin Tim and G-FAITH.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 10 2015 05:06 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Oh, Hawky, my Hawky. First recipient of the Beltran Self-Improvement Foundation's graces. I remember being at a good-Niese start in May 2010 or 2011 against the Phils where he made Howard look silly a few times. In my mind's eye, he was always either giving you 7 innings of 5-hit/6-7 K/one-run ball, or turning around to mouth curses as he watched curveballs settle into shallow left-center or fly over the left-field wall.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 10 2015 12:28 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

I strongly associate Niese with Muffy, legacy Omar Era prospects just good enough, just determined enough, to last until the eve of a bigger payday. It's sort of appropriate that one deal essentially ends both of their Met careers. I in fact predict that in 23 years Muffy's son will marry Niese's daughter. At one time I thought Niese might develop into a real force but at some point he messed up his shoulder. His wife Leah wore "Amazin' blue panties." Best #49 we ever had.

Lefty Specialist Dec 10 2015 02:04 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

He'll always be born on the day the Mets won the 1986 World Series. Hated the inconsistency; he could look great for a couple of innings, but then a bad play would be made behind him and he'd huff and puff on the mound and let things snowball. Signed a team-friendly contract when they really needed it. And I guess in the end he wasn't so bad, but I'm not crushed to see him go.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 10 2015 02:25 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Remember how he left? Remember that Metly parting gift he left in the press? Rob Biertempfel, Pitt Tribune wrote: Jon Niese: “I’m sure what I’ll appreciate more than anything is the way (#Pirates) play defense. I’m looking forward to that.”

Edgy MD Dec 10 2015 02:57 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I strongly associate Niese with Muffy, legacy Omar Era prospects just good enough, just determined enough, to last until the eve of a bigger payday. It's sort of appropriate that one deal essentially ends both of their Met careers. I in fact predict that in 23 years Muffy's son will marry Niese's daughter. Similar beards, worn at seemingly parallel stages in their parallel careers.

seawolf17 Dec 10 2015 03:26 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Never great, but usually good. I liked him.

seawolf17 Dec 10 2015 03:27 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Remember how he left? Remember that Metly parting gift he left in the press? Jon Niese: “I’m sure what I’ll appreciate more than anything is the way (#Pirates) play defense. I’m looking forward to that.” HANG ON WAIT. EFF THAT GUY, THEN.

Centerfield Dec 10 2015 03:37 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

seawolf17 wrote: Remember how he left? Remember that Metly parting gift he left in the press? Jon Niese: “I’m sure what I’ll appreciate more than anything is the way (#Pirates) play defense. I’m looking forward to that.” HANG ON WAIT. EFF THAT GUY, THEN. LOL. Good pitcher. His demeanor probably made us all not appreciate how good he actually was. Few guys gave us this consistency over the years. Which is strange considering we will always remember him for his inconsistency. Saw Niese pitch on my first visit to Citizen's Bank this year. I remember meeting metfairy in the stands and shaking our heads at him stomping around the mound. Later in the game, he got a hit or something that contributed to the game-winning rally. I feel like that's him in a nutshell, played a pretty good game, but perhaps unfairly, left a negative impression nonetheless.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 10 2015 03:41 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Pirates do a lot of that shifty bullshit. Probably important to Niese who no longer knows how to strike out people.

Frayed Knot Dec 10 2015 05:59 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

In fairness to Niese's parting comments about the defense, he was the victim of some particularly poor timing this past year buy he gloves behind him.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 10 2015 06:58 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Won 61 games as a Met, the same number as Tom Glavine, which leaves him in a tie for 11th place on the all-time list. If he had stuck around and won six more games, he would have bumped Steve Trachsel out of the top ten. (Trachsel is safe for a while. The leading active player still on the Mets is Matt Harvey, with 25 wins, followed by Jacob deGrom with 23.) Niese and Daniel Murphy were two of the final three players whose Mets tenures dated back to the Shea Stadium days. (He made two starts at Shea in 2008.) David Wright becomes the last Shea Stadium Met. The last remaining Met from the Polo Grounds was, obviously, Ed Kranepool. I'm glad Niese was able to remain a Met long enough to pitch in a World Series for them.

Edgy MD Dec 10 2015 07:01 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Shea Stadium Bobby Parnell isn't quite a goner yet.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 10 2015 07:06 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

True! I forgot all about him!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 10 2015 07:09 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Frayed Knot wrote: In fairness to Niese's parting comments about the defense, he was the victim of some particularly poor timing this past year buy he gloves behind him. This is true. I didn't mean to say it was undue backhanded criticism... just maybe mildly untoward.

smg58 Dec 10 2015 11:06 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I'm glad Niese was able to remain a Met long enough to pitch in a World Series for them. That sums it up pretty well. He had good stretches and bad stretches, but overall he was basically OK. Guys who are "OK" tend to be looked on favorably when they play for bad teams, and less favorably when they play for good teams, and I think that was true of Niese. He deserves a lot of credit (and a warm ovation the first time he pitches in Citi) for helping get the team through the lean years, but I also think it was a good time and a good way to move on.

TransMonk Dec 11 2015 04:53 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Niese's biggest problem, in my eyes, was that he never had the talent nor the mental toughness to be able to pitch through adversity and jams (whether they were caused by himself or failures of the defense). I doubt that will change in the steel city.

Centerfield Dec 11 2015 05:34 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

I used Niese as a teaching tool for my son. He had a really bad inning where he gave up some hits and also felt like he was getting squeezed by the ump. He started stomping around and lost his command. He ended up giving up 5 runs that inning. Afterwards, I talked to him about Jon Niese and how we always groaned when things started trending downhill for him. I think the message hit home. He was determined not to be that guy. I told him you're going to have some rough spots when pitching. Do you want to be Jon Niese or Jacob deGrom? After that, any time he started to get into trouble, I could see him trying to get tough, put a really adorable scowl on his face, and push his way through the inning.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 11 2015 06:20 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

See, CF, THAT you should Tweet to Niese.

smg58 Dec 11 2015 07:28 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: See, CF, THAT you should Tweet to Niese. But why help out the Pirates?

86-Dreamer Dec 11 2015 10:02 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

I'll mostly remember how well he pitched in relief this postseason.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 11 2015 10:12 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

The most unique thing about him (other than his date of birth which isn't actually unique because he shares it with Pedro Beato and millions of others) is that a former teammate financed his nose job.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 12 2015 12:49 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

86-Dreamer wrote: I'll mostly remember how well he pitched in relief this postseason. He got a big strikeout iirc, but I can't remember who and when. I would not have been surprised if he didn't and I think maybe he thought that too.

SteveJRogers Dec 26 2015 03:23 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Niese through the years with Topps Base cards

batmagadanleadoff Dec 26 2015 05:19 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

That's an old hat on a 2015 card. What is this, 1969 again, when Topps was low in new photo stock and hadda use old and repeated images?

Benjamin Grimm Dec 26 2015 12:13 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

SteveJRogers Dec 26 2015 04:53 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

That's an old hat on a 2015 card. What is this, 1969 again, when Topps was low in new photo stock and hadda use old and repeated images? And the year before they have him in the blue uni that replaced the all black ones! Hell, his Allen & Ginter and Topps Sticker cards this year show him in the alt road blues!

Frayed Knot Dec 26 2015 05:06 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

You can watch the evolution of his nose via these cards.

Edgy MD Dec 28 2015 06:02 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Let's relive the great story (or "story") of Jon Niese cussing out Terry in his last start of the 2014 season.

Edgy MD Feb 20 2017 02:33 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Sorry to see Jon make his second departure while this thread noting his original departure is still active, and for him to depart as something of a villain. I note above that he was part of a string of seven different opening day pitchers taking the bump in seven years. Unless a situation develops causing the Mets to switch from Syndergaard to Harvey, it'll be eight in eight years.

themetfairy Feb 20 2017 02:53 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 20 2017 09:21 PM

Here's a different picture, and a different memory. Look at his right arm and you can see his children's names tattooed on it.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 20 2017 04:18 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Edgy MD wrote: Sorry to see Jon make his second departure while this thread noting his original departure is still active, and for him to depart as something of a villain. More like "something of an afterthought," really. And with the walk rate and HR/FB rate both steadily tracking upward as he heads toward the stupid, stupid Bronx, it feels like he's headed toward "something of a sad, joke-like thing." I feel like he would have been better off with someone like the Pods.

Frayed Knot Feb 20 2017 04:37 AM Re: Have a Niese Memory

You wonder if the Yanx really foresee a possible niche for Niese (or a niese for Niche) or if the Steinbrenner DNA (inherited or just rubbed off) still dictates that all ex-Mets that can be picked-up are picked-up just on the off chance that a revival will allow the Yanx to 'steal' a player they can claim him as their own? We know this existed and that it was quite intentional with the late '80s crew [Darryl, Dwight, Cone, Mazzilli] when even long-shot pick-ups like Santana and Sid were brought in during their final year(s). But even now there's Ike, and Ruben, and now Niese just in the last six months, not to mention their ill-fated signing of Pedro Feliciano. Even with George dead and gone for years now, this seems to still happen too often to just dismiss as random coincidence.

MFS62 Feb 20 2017 03:27 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

TransMonk wrote: Niese's biggest problem, in my eyes, was that he never had the talent nor the mental toughness to be able to pitch through adversity and jams (whether they were caused by himself or failures of the defense). This. My fondest memory of John Niese was when I joyously cheered when I heard he was no longer a Met. Later

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 20 2017 04:15 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

You guys are mean. Niese was a perfectly adequate mid-rotation lefty for awhile. I think his problem was that the shoulder woes he encountered weren't radical enough to require surgery but just enough to compromise his effectiveness. I guess I could say his failure to adjust to that was his biggest sin.

themetfairy Feb 20 2017 04:37 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

I think his whininess in Pittsburgh turned off a lot of Mets fans. As a result, he was a less sympathetic figure upon his return.

Frayed Knot Feb 20 2017 04:56 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

Yeah, just as Captain Renault once warned to his "Dear friend Rickie" about how throwing away women was wasteful as "one day they may be scarce", just substitute in 'league average left-handers' in that little piece of advice. If you don't think that guys who give you 25-30 starts per year across seven season at league average-ish ERAs and WHIPs have at least some value, go see what one of them, particularly one in his 20s, costs you on the open market. And during the peak of his time here (2012-14) Niese was giving us better than average stuff basically every fifth day (sub-3.50, 1.28 WHIP, 84 starts)

batmagadanleadoff Feb 20 2017 08:44 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

G-Fafif wrote: GKR Bobblehead night on August 27, 2013, had to have been Niese's best all-around performance: 3-hit shutout of Phillies, doubled in three runs. Helped take the edge off the news that had just come down re Harvey requiring rehab for coke addiction...I mean Tommy John surgery. What a coincidence. I was at that game, too. Got me a GKR Bobblehead, too. I wouldn'ta capitalized "Bobblehead", but since you did, I figured that was the way to do it. [fimg=200]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5733/23017927223_91366190aa_o.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=333]https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2612/32864628282_2ec28479c0_z.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=333]https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2527/32864628272_7ce1860da3_b.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=484]https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2610/32864628242_e0f1367ebf_b.jpg[/fimg]

Benjamin Grimm Feb 20 2017 08:51 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

I don't think "bobblehead" is a proper noun, but when part of "Bobblehead Night" it should be capitalized. G-Fafif's use of "GKR Bobblehead night" wasn't wrong in using the upper-case B. The error (I believe) was in the lower-case N. Of course, my comment really should have been posted in in the "All-Purpose Bobblehead Capitalization" thread.

themetfairy Feb 20 2017 09:20 PM Re: Have a Niese Memory

GKR Bobblehead night on August 27, 2013, had to have been Niese's best all-around performance: 3-hit shutout of Phillies, doubled in three runs. Helped take the edge off the news that had just come down re Harvey requiring rehab for coke addiction...I mean Tommy John surgery. That was the night I took this photo -