Tulowitzki Crushes Last Place Mets as Niese's Struggles at Home Continue

From MetsBlog.com:

The least you should know:

• Jon Niese let up five runs and seven hits, including home runs by Troy Tulowitzkiand Ryan Spilborghs, in six innings of work.
• Taylor Buchholz, Pedro Beato and DJ Carrasco each pitched a scoreless inning in relief tonight.
• Daniel Murphy had an RBI double and made another diving stop at second base.
• Carlos Beltran drove in a run with a double.
• Angel Pagan, who scored in the second inning on a wild pitch, knocked in a run with a triple.
• The Mets were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
• Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez made a terrific, diving catch behind third base, with two outs and a runner on a second, which most likely saved a run from scoring.
• The Mets have lost three games in a row, and 6 of their last 7.

Quick Reaction and Other Observations:

Man, Tulowitzki is awesome, and he’s killing the Mets this series. What’s worse, he really, really seems to be enjoying it. In the fifth inning, up two runs, and an open base, but runners on second and third with two outs, they chose to pitch to him. I’m OK with this. Niese probably should have pitched around him, and it looked like he was trying to go up and away, but instead left the ball over the plate and Tulowitzki drove it out to right field to put the Rockies ahead. In the 6th inning, now down a run, Niese grooved an 88-mph, 1-2 fastball right down the plate, which Spilborghs crushed over the left-center field wall. He and Mike Pelfrey (and Josh Thole and Dan Warthen) need to do a better job in their approach, especially against the opposition’s best hitters.

The Mets play a straight doubleheader tomorrow against the Rockies in Citi Field, starting at 12:10 pm. In the first game, RHP RA Dickey (1-1, 2.45 ERA) takes on RHP Greg Reynolds (0-0, 3.00 ERA), after which LHP Chris Capuano (1-0, 6.75 ERA) starts against LHP Jorge De La Rosa (1-0, 1.74 ERA).