New York @ Philadelphia preview
Citizens Bank Park
Last Meeting ( May 8, 2015 ) NY Mets 1, Philadelphia 3
Ryan Howard is beginning to get hot for the Philadelphia Phillies and is helping to make up for the struggles of Chase Utley. Both Howard and Utley could find themselves on the bench against left-hander Jonathon Niese when the Phillies host the New York Mets again on Saturday.
Howard smacked a home run off Matt Harvey and drove in a pair as the Phillies took the opener 3-1 on Friday, and the former MVP is 5-for-7 with a pair of home runs in his last two starts. Howard sat out the last time Philadelphia faced a left-hander and Utley, who went 0-for-4 on Friday to drop his batting average to .099, has been getting plenty of time off of late. The Mets have some offensive problems of their own and have scored one or no runs in three of the last five games. The New York pitching staff, which has surrendered three or fewer runs in each of the last six contests, is keeping the team in games.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, WPIX (New York), CSN Philadelphia
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mets LH Jonathon Niese (2-2, 2.40 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Aaron Harang (3-2, 2.35)
Niese came out on the wrong end of a 1-0 decision against Washington last Saturday, allowing the lone run on nine hits in seven innings to absorb the loss. The 28-year-old has yielded one earned run in four of his five outings in 2015. One of those turns came against the Phillies on April 15, when Niese scattered nine hits and one run in 6 1/3 innings.
Harang has just as many starts with one or no earned runs allowed as Niese, and he is coming off a win at Atlanta on Monday. The veteran snapped a two-start winless streak by yielding five hits and a walk in six innings against the Braves. Harang came out on the bad end of a 2-0 final at New York on April 13, when he allowed one run in six innings but suffered the loss.
WALK-OFFS
1. Utley is 3-for-32 in his career against Niese.
2. Philadelphia SS Freddy Galvis picked up his first two stolen bases of the season on Friday.
3. New York CF Juan Lagares is 0-for-12 in the last three games.
PREDICTION: Mets 2, Phillies 1