It’s crunch time for the Mets, who open their final homestand of the regular season — and final homestand in the history of Shea Stadium — tonight against the Cubs with rookie left-hander Jon Niese on the mound against Jason Marquis. The Mets come in riding a two-game losing streak and 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies in the NL East with seven games left. Jerry Manuel‘s club also is just 1 1/2 games up on the Brewers in the wild-card chase.
Niese is making just his third major-league start after night-and-day performances in the first two. The 21-year-old was bombed by Milwaukee in his in debut Sept. 2, then shut out the Braves (without Chipper Jones) for eight innings on Sept. 3.
Marquis, meanwhile, has lost two of his past three starts after going 3-1 for the NL Central-champion Cubs in August. Marquis will be backed by the Cubs’ regular lineup as manager Lou Piniella opts to play it straight despite having already clinched the division.
As for the Mets, Manuel is going with the same order heavy with lefty hitters as he did Sunday in Atlanta.
The lineup for the 86-69 Mets:
Jose Reyes SS
Daniel Murphy LF
David Wright 3B
Carlos Delgado 1B
Carlos Beltran CF
Ryan Church CF
Luis Castillo 2B
Brian Schneider C
Jon Niese LHP (1-0, 4.09)
The 94-60 Cubs will counter with:
Alfonso Soriana LF
Ronny Cedeno 2B
Derrek Lee 1B
Aramis Ramirez
Geovany Soto C
Mark DeRosa RF
Reed Johnson CF
Ryan Theriot SS
Jason Marquis RHP (10-9, 4.39)
Game time: 7:10 p.m.
TV: SNY.