7/21 Open game thread

It's been more than nine years since New York's NL team came to town. (Think about that and feel old.) The last time the Mets visited Safeco, Gil Meche got the win and the Seattle Mariners knocked Tom Glavine out of the game in the third inning on the way to an 11-5 victory. The 45,785 fans in attendance got to see Richie Sexson blast a home run and witnessed solid contributions from potentially up-and-coming rookies Mike Morse and Jeremy Reed. Your 2014 Seattle Mariners are a very different ball club (although Willie Bloomquist is still hangin' around doing WFB things).

Today, we'll see if Roenis Elias can get his first win since June 22nd. He's been hit hard each of his last three outings, giving up a combined 17 runs in less than 15 innings. It'll be interesting to see how the Mariners manage Elias's innings going forward, especially if they stick around in the playoff race; he's never pitched more than 150 innings in a professional season and he's already at 113 IP. Hopefully the break gave Elias a chance to rest up a bit and he can come out and dominate the Mets. Also, Cano is back!

For the Mets, Jon Niese was just reactivated this morning and is making his first start since being placed on the DL on July 5th with a left shoulder strain. His velocity had been down a few ticks over his previous several starts and Terry Collins wanted to give him an extended break going into the second half. Niese has five pitches in his arsenal and appears to have a solid four-seam/changeup combination. He doesn't miss a ton of bats, but he throws strikes and has generally limited home runs. As might be expected, righties have had more success against him this year; his righty-lefty split is .308 vs .271 wOBA, respectively. Since the beginning of 2010, Niese has put up solid numbers, starting 127 games and quietly compiling 46 wins. In fact, his performance over the past several seasons has been pretty similar to Matt Garza's. If Niese gets his pitch count up or runs into trouble early, look for Daisuke Matsuzaka (who was just bumped out of the rotation into the bullpen) to potentially take over in long relief.

The Mariners are 21-13 against lefty starters this year (and 19-11 when WFB is in the starting lineup). Hopefully they can maintain their winning ways.

Game Info

• New York Mets @ Seattle Mariners, 7:10 pm PST
• TV: ROOT, Radio: 710 ESPN, Online: mlb.tv