Collins: Niese fine to make Friday start
DETROIT -- Jonathon Niese took part in pitcher's batting practice Wednesday while still wearing the Holter monitor for his final heart-rate test. But as the Mets awaited the last round of results, Terry Collins sounded confident that Niese's scheduled start Friday night against the Yankees would not be in jeopardy.
"He's going to be fine," Collins said. "All the indications point to that. The examinations were good. It was just one of those things. I think it was heat related, no question about it. His heart just started to race and when he got calmed down, he was fine and he's been fine ever since."
Niese threw his side session without a problem and Collins does not anticipate him needing any precautionary measures for Friday night's start. The manager lifted him from last Saturday's outing in Texas after 5 2/3 innings when Niese complained of shortness of breath on a day when the first-pitch temperature was 94 degrees at 3 p.m.
Thole: Paternity leave?
With Josh Thole's wife, Kathryn, hitting the 37-week mark on her pregnancy Friday, the Mets catcher is hoping the couple's first child will come this weekend with the team at home against the Yankees.
While labor can be induced chemically to better pinpoint the birth date, Kathryn is sticking to natural methods like acupuncture in an attempt give birth at a particular time. If it doesn't happen this weekend, Kathryn will try to slow it until the end of the Mets' next trip -- a seven-game trek through Los Angeles and San Francisco that ends July 10 for the All-Star break.
If she goes into labor before then, Thole plans to take paternity leave and be absent for three days. The couple knows they are having a boy and intend to name him Camden -- not after the ballpark.
Wright takes wet swings
David Wright did swing a bat in Port St. Lucie, but it happened in the hydrotherapy pool as part of his gradual return to baseball activities. Collins said Wright could hit off a tee today, and if his recovery proceeds smoothly, may start playing rehab games in "seven to eight days."
