Jon Niese will miss the next couple of weeks with a partial tear of his rotator cuff.

Jonathon Niese has been diagnosed with a partially torn rotator cuff, although surgery is not immediately being recommended, assistant general manager John Ricco said.

The diagnosis came after Niese was examined by team doctor David Altchek on Friday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

Niese had departed a start on Thursday in Atlanta in the fourth inning, after experiencing pain in his pitching shoulder and a drop in velocity while delivering pitches to Tyler Pastornicky.

The southpaw landed on the disabled list Friday.

The Mets called up submariner Greg Burke to take Niese’s roster spot.

He doesn’t need surgery…yet. The team will try to treat the injury with rest and physical therapy – pretty standard procedure. Surgery is always the last option.

One wonders if Niese’s outings in arctic conditions in Minneapolis/St. Paul and Denver had anything to do with his shoulder troubles. He’s also struggled with his arm angle, which may have either caused or been a result of shoulder discomfort.

It’s a shame this happened just when the starting rotation, present and future, was starting to come together. It will be up to Gee, Marcum, and Hefner to step it up.

Who knows how serious this is yet, but any shoulder injury is disconcerting.

The Mets still can’t figure out the Miami Marlins. They blew a 4-1 lead, and lost to the Fish by a score of 8-4. (Box Score) At least it only took 10 innings this time.

The Marlins have won 18 games this year. 8 of them have been against the Mets.

Happy Matt Harvey Day!  Matt Harvey (4-0, 0.93 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, 9.9 SO/9) takes the mound against…well, who cares? It’s Matt Harvey Day.

But seriously, it’s Ted Lilly and the Dodgers at Citi Field.

There’s lots of reaction to last night’s loss.  Mark (Bleepin’) Ellis Chippered the Mets with a pair of home runs, and a hot shot that knocked Jon Niese on his butt and out of the game.  Niese is day-to-day and says he’ll make his next start.  We shall see.

Josh Edgin got lit up last night and now sports a 10.80 ERA.  Terry Collins is concerned.  Edgin’s fastball was straight and his slider was a cement mixer.  Could Robert Carson, who did yeoman’s work on short notice after replacing the injured Niese, be in line to replace Edgin?  Shaun Marcum is due to be activated on Saturday, and someone in the bullpen is going to have to head out to Vegas.  Or maybe another answer could come from within.

Jack Leathersich continued his scoreless streak in Binghamton last night.  The Leather Rocket is slight of build, but has 15 Ks in 10 innings this year.  Perhaps his time won’t come this year, but we may see him in Queens soon.

The Mets have a lot of flaws, that’s really not news.  But let’s just hold our horses.

It’s Matt Harvey Day.

Only in this day and age can you get a hole poked in your heart one day, then go out and play ball the next.

Jonathon Niese left Sunday’s game with an elevated heartbeat.  He experienced the same malady during a start in the blazing heat of Arlington, Texas during an interleague game last year against the Rangers.  The heat can cause dehydration, which in turn can cause a rapid heartbeat.  But that wasn’t the cause on Sunday.

Doctors are not concerned about his condition, saying it is not a threat to his well-being.

Niese will consider a procedure called “ablation surgery” to treat his condition.

“I won’t miss any starts,” Niese said. “It’s like an outpatient thing that you do. It only takes like three days to recover from it. We might be doing it All-Star break, that way I don’t miss any starts.”

Outpatient heart surgery.  Welcome to 2012.

Web MD has a detailed description of ablation treatments, both surgical and non-surgical:

Non-surgical ablation, used for many types of arrhythmias, is performed in a special lab called the electrophysiology (EP) laboratory. During this non-surgical procedure a catheter is inserted into a specific area of the heart. A special machine directs energy through the catheter to small areas of the heart muscle that causes the abnormal heart rhythm. This energy “disconnects” the source of the abnormal rhythm from the rest of the heart. It can also be used to disconnect the electrical pathway between the upper chambers (atria) and the lower chambers (ventricles) of the heart.

The medical knowledge one gains by being a Mets fan seems to have no end.  Whatever Jon decides, we hope he has a long and healthy career.

The Mets wrap up their thus-far disappointing series in Houston today.  It’s not a shock that they seem to be having a “let down” series after three exhausting games in Colorado.  On top of that, the flu bug is propagating its way through the Mets locker room like the trollop it is.  But the team looks to rise from the ashes today before they head off to Phoenix.

The Blogs take their Zicam:

• Adam Rubin says Terry Collins is confident in his decision to pinch hit for Jonathon Niese in the fourth inning last night.
• Daily Stache thinks it would be wrong not to sign David Wright.
• Seedlings to Stars has the Mets picking a high school pitcher in their mock draft.
• Bleacher Report brings us the tale of the tape between Kirk Nieuwenhuis and the Nats’ Bryce Harper.
• Rising Apple examines Ramon Ramirez, and wonders what we should really expect from him.
• Metstradamus reminds the Mets that they’re playing the Astros, and hopes they avoid Cooter’s bar this time around.

Take plenty of vitamin C, and perhaps some antacids – it is the Mets after all.  And this is Mets Today.

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN, the Mets are close to signing Jonathon Niese to a long-term deal.

The eventual deal is believed to be comparable to the five-year, $28.5 million deal that included two team options — for $11 million and $11.5 million — that fellow left-hander Derek Holland signed with the Texas Rangers last month. Both players have comparable major league service time and would have been eligible for free agency after the 2015 season.

In a move that was widely lauded, the Tampa Bay Rays signed LHP Matt Moore to a 5 year, $14 million deal that included club options that could keep the promising starting pitcher on the team for 8 years.

The signing of Niese would afford the Mets the same benefits.  They can lock him up long-term, and keep his salary affordable, which is key given the economic state of the team.

This move also indicates how Sandy Alderson, Terry Collins, and the rest of the Geek Squad feel about Niese.  They’re obviously high on the left-hander, and feel he has the potential to be a solution in their rotation for years to come.

According to Joel Sherman of the NY Post, the Mets are looking for suitors for LHP Jonathan Niese, possibly selling him as an affordable alternative to those who are unable to acquire Gio Gonzalez.  Teams who lost out on Mark Buehrle (who signed a 4-year, $58 MM deal with – guess who – the Miami Marlins) may also be interested in the Mets starter.

Niese has had two eerily similar seasons in 2010 and 2011, as you can see by the copy/paste below:

In addition, he’s seemingly run out of gas/broken down during the second half of each year.  He had a 1.53 WHIP in the second half of 2011, and a 1.57 WHIP in 2010.

Given his age (25), the Mets aren’t desperate to trade him, but will if they can get a good starting pitcher in return, plus prospects.

According to Sherman, the Padres, Rockies, and Red Sox are interested in acquiring Niese.

Earlier today, a trade rumor about Mets 1B Ike Davis created a brief commotion, before Andy Martino of the Daily News reported the rumor was untrue.