The New York Mets placed left-hander Jonathon Niese on the disabled list with a left knee injury after his early exit Tuesday night.Niese was lifted against the St. Louis Cardinals only four batters into the bottom of the first inning due to left knee pain. He was placed on the DL shortly after the Mets' 7-4 win in St. Louis.The Mets announced that Niese had the ailment previously but did not feel anything wrong while warming up. Niese walked two batters, sandwiched around a lineout by Stephen Piscotty, before allowing an RBI single to Brandon Moss. Mets manager Terry Collins and a trainer came out to the mound, and Collins motioned to the bullpen."He reached down to his knee after the second batter," Collins said of Niese. "Then when we went out there, he said it was killing him. I thought something was wrong when he walked the leadoff hitter."Niese was flying back to New York on Wednesday to be examined by team doctors to determine the exact nature of the injury."It progressively got worse and worse," Niese said after Tuesday's game. "Every pitch, there was just a sharp, shooting pain down my leg."Got to get it fixed. I can't keep going out there like that. There's a lot of pain, it's altering my mechanics, I'm not able to stay behind each pitch. Just not able to locate and I'm really not helping myself out or the team."Niese, 29, is 0-1 with an 11.45 ERA in six games (two starts) since the Mets re-acquired him in an Aug. 1 trade that sent left-hander Antonio Bastardo to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Overall this year, Niese is 8-7 with a 5.50 ERA in 29 games (20 starts).Right-hander Erik Goeddel was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas to fill the roster spot.Goeddel, 27, was 1-0 with a 4.18 ERA in 28 relief outings for New York earlier this season. In 21 appearances for Las Vegas, he went 1-1 with one save and a 4.94 ERA.