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Niese lasted just two innings as the Pawtucket Red Sox tagged the Bisons starter four five runs on five hits as the Sox scored a 6-4 win in front of 13,178 fans at Coca-Cola Field on Thursday afternoon.

Though it was a sunny, clear day the sunshine was very deceiving as the game time temp of 48 felt much colder when the wind kicked up and it only got worse.

Niese, whose primary pitch is a curveball, said he “felt good” but suffered the traditional curveball thrower trouble during cold weather as he struggled to find the right grip on the ball to throw the curve properly.

“My hands were a little cold,” said Niese. “It was just one of those things were my first pitch for strike wasn’t good. I left balls over the plate and I paid for it.”

Throwing 35 of his 62 pitches for strikes Niese ran into trouble early when he threw 34 pitches in the first inning alone.

The key at-bat for the Sox (1-0) came when left fielder Paul McAnulty (2-for-2) ate into Niese’s pitch count by working an 11-pitch at-bat for the walk in the first which ran Niese’s count up.

But the Sox did the most damage in the second inning when they hit three straight doubles to highlight a four hit, four run inning that gave them the 5-0 lead.

Bison reliever Kyle Snyder (three strikeouts) cooled the PawSox offense with three scoreless inning of work that gave the Herd (0-1) offense time to claw back into the game as they scored two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.

“I was pleased with the way the way that we battled back and I was proud that we didn’t quit,” said Bisons manager Ken Oberkfell. “We had some chances.”

Mets top prospect Fernando Martinez (2-for-4) not only hit a double and triple in his first game with the Herd the more promising sign was he was able to spray the ball to all parts of the field without any ill-effects to the elbow injury he is on the mend from.

“I tried today to hit the ball the other way,” said Martinez, who served as the DH.
Notes:

Niese was born on October 27,1986-the last time the Mets won the World Series.

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A dedication ceremony for was held in the press box in honor of Mike Kelly the long time official scorekeeper who lost his 10-year battle with prostate cancer on December 27, 2008. Mike’s widow Judy and sons Sean and Scott were on hand along with just over a dozen other family members.

A dear member of the Bisons press box family Mike, who served as scorer since 1995, will be deeply missed by all.

A frequent visitor to the press box over the years Judy was known for her amazing chocolate chip cookies. Sure enough, true to form Judy made plenty of cookies to go around for all.

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Governor David Patterson was greeted with a sizable round of boo’s during the pre-game festivities.
Pitching match ups for the series.

Buf Dillon Gee-v- Paw Michael Bowden
Buf Nelson Figueroa-v-Paw Kris Johnson
Buf Casey Fossum-v-Clay Buchholtz

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Best press note of all time-Bison PR man Brad Bisbing made note that it had been 4,873 games since the Bisons had last been affiliated with the Mets in 1965.