A day after Matt Harvey beat Washington in a tight pitchers’ duel, the Mets stagnant offense wouldn’t let Jon Niese do the same.
Even without his best stuff, Niese was solid Saturday night and gave the Mets every opportunity to win. But instead of backing him up, the offense let him down, shut out 1-0 by Gio Gonzalez and a Nationals team they have vowed to start finding a way to beat.
After winning just four games against Washington all of last season — a wretched 4-15 against the Nationals — the Mets had a chance to match that victory total Saturday night in front of 39,730 at Citi Field.