New York Mets (37-39) at Texas Rangers (41-36) Game 2 of 3 Preview (3:10pm CT)

The Texas Rangers had an amazing night with starting pitcher Matt Harrison then the bullpen (Darren Oliver and Mark Lowe) in addition to their super-hot offense. Adrian Beltre, Josh Hamilton and Michael Young all hit home runs.

The only problem last night was when Elvis Andrus stole second base – his left wrist got caught under him as he was sliding headfirst into second and it appears that he only sprained it. Ron Washington, the Rangers Manager, said that he really didn’t see the disabled list for Andrus, which is good news, and believes he’ll be fine. More tests should be done today and we’ll know more.

After last night, Hamilton has not hit safely in 18 interleague games and will look to continue that streak as the Rangers host the Mets for the second game of three.

Pitching Matchups

RHP

will start for the Rangers. Ogando is 7-2 with a 2.66 earned run average. Despite his struggles against the Yankees and previous two straight losses (one being against the Yankees), he has been pretty consistent and solid throughout the entire season. He is heading into tonight’s game looking to redeem himself after two bad outings and two straight losses, which were also his shorted starts of the year. On June 14, he struggled terribly against the New York Yankees and allowed six runs on six hits over just 1.2 innings. His next outing on June 19 against the Atlanta Braves, he wasn’t as bad but allowed three runs on five hits over five innings. His previous eight games before his two straight losses, he only allowed more than two runs in one of those, which shows his consistency.

LHP Jonathon Niese is 6-6 with a 3.70 ERA and will get the start for the Mets. He is coming off a loss, his first since May 26, after lasting only four innings against the Angels allowing five runs on eight hits. His previous two outings were both wins in which he only allowed one run on June 9 against the Brewers and allowed two runs against the Braves on June 14. In his previous five outings, he has only allowed more than two runs once and four times in his last 10 starts.

Pitchers vs. Hitters

RHP Alexi Ogando: The only Mets’ batter Ogando has faced is Ronny Paulino, who is 0-for-1. Jose Reyes has not faced Ogando but still leads the NL in batting average despite not getting a hit in his three at-bats last night.

LHP Jonathon Niese: Yorvit Torrealba is the only Rangers’ batter that Niese has faced. Torrealba is 1-for-5 with a double. Torrealba went 3-for-4 last night raising his batting average to