Jon Niese left Sunday’s game in the third inning after re-aggravating his right hamstring. Niese had surgery on the same hamstring last August.
After the game, the 23-year-old lefty tried to downplay the injury. Niese said that he wanted to make his next start, but the Mets sent him back to New York for further testing.
“It was more a scare than anything,” Niese said . “I’m feeling a little sore now, nothing major. I don’t want to miss a start. I’ll do whatever I can, but that being said, I have to listen to the doctors.”
It’s a good sign that the injury appears minor, but the Mets rotation is extremely thin right now, especially with Oliver Perez’s recent demotion to the bullpen. This is all very scary for N.Y.
The move alters the Mets’ rotation plans for this week. Perez was originally scheduled to start on Wednesday but, since he was scratched from the rotation, reliever Hisanori Takahashi is expected go that day.
This presents a problem. Takahashi had to come on as the emergency long reliever when Niese left the game on Sunday.
The way things look now, Takahashi will probably start in place of Niese on Friday, with R.A. Dickey possibly being called up to take Perez’s place on Wednesday.
Who the Mets send down at that point is another question the team will have to deal with later on in the week. But, if they only have to skip Niese once through the rotation, rather than put him on the DL, I think they’ll take it.
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