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Robert Allen Dickey. The man. The myth. The legend. The knuckleballer. The All-Star? Cy Young Award winner?! MVP?!? Hall of Famer?!?! 

I may be getting a bit carried away there at the end, but no one can argue that Dickey has been anything but amazing for the Mets in his seven starts since filling in due to injuries. 

Dickey improved his record to 6-0 in his first seven starts, lowering his ERA to 2.32 with a dominating eight-inning shutout performance. He has a 35/14 K/BB ratio, with a 1.295 WHIP. He has given up only two home runs in his seven starts, in all of which he has pitched at least six innings. He’s also hitting .300 with a .364 OBP!

Dickey’s six wins are as many as notable pitchers such as Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona (whom the Mets are speculated to be trying to acquire), as well as Matt Cain, Francisco Liriano, James Shields, and Jake Peavy—except Dickey has as many wins as them in half the starts. He also has one more win than another potential acquisition, Roy Oswalt.

Many have speculated whether or not Stephen Strasburg deserves a roster spot in the All-Star Game. My personal opinions about the All-Star Game and Strasburg aside, if you think Strasburg deserves a spot on your team, you better reserve a spot for Dickey too.

He has been that good. 

For me, Dickey is Exhibit A for why the Mets do not need to and shouldn’t trade for a pitcher this season. 

Everyone thinks that mediocre pitchers making spot starts, despite having substantial success initially, are bound to get hit hard and return to mediocrity soon. I’ve been waiting for that to happen with Dickey, and after seven strong starts I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. Maybe a bad start or two, but certainly no implosion.

Dickey’s uniqueness as a pitching style is wholly responsible for his initial success, and it will be responsible for his longevity as a bona fide starter in MLB in the future. 

Dickey is a hard-throwing knuckleballer, the only one of his kind in all of baseball. He has the dancing knuckleball of Tim Wakefield, which is hard enough to hit, but thrown 10 miles per hour faster. He also mixes that up with a mid-80s fastball with movement, keeping hitters off balance and proving to be a lethal combination.

As long as Dickey can continue to throw strikes and keep himself out of jams, he’s got the recipe for success. 

On a side note, Jerry Manuel has to leave Dickey in to get the complete game shutout in situations like last night. Dickey started the eighth inning with 90 pitches and finished that inning with 96, having retired his last 13 batters in a row.

I hate when Jerry makes decisions like that and brings in the soon-to-be overworked bullpen (especially Frankie Rodriguez, who takes an average of 30 pitches and two baserunners to get through an inning) to treat the five-run lead like a save situation, against a team to which Dickey gave up only four hits. But they got the win, and that’s all that matters.

Nonetheless, baseball fans throughout the league have to love what Dickey is doing with the Mets. I, for one, hope to see him continue his stellar performances and pitch in the All-Star Game in Anaheim come July 13.

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NEW YORK– R.A. Dickey is becoming an absolutely amazing story for the New York Mets. The 35-year-old knuckleballer continued to roll tonight, shutting out the Tigers over eight innings of work. He allowed four hits, walked two, and struck out four, while only throwing 97 pitches.

It didn’t start off easy for Dickey though. He got into immediate trouble in the first, loading the bases with his only two walks of the game. With two outs, he got second baseman Carlos Guillen to groundout to second to end the inning, without allowing a run to score.

In the Mets’ first, they had the big opportunity to score a run, as Jose Reyes led off with a triple off Jeremy Bonderman. Unfortunately, for a rare time, the Mets couldn’t bring him in from third with none out, as Angel Pagan struck out, and David Wright and Ike Davis grounded out.

R.A. Dickey never really struggled for the rest of the game, as he allowed a hit in each the second, third, and fourth innings.

In the third, the Mets broke through against Bonderman, who hasn’t won back-to-back starts since 2007. It was a two-out rally, as Jose Reyes singled, Pagan walked, and Wright doubled a run in, his 56th RBI of the season, to lead the NL.

In the fifth, again with two outs, Jose Reyes homered to left field, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. Reyes went 3-for-3 with three runs scored, a double short of the cycle.

While Dickey was rolling with his knuckler through his final four innings, the Mets were doing what they’ve done all season, tack on runs. They scored three in the seventh off Bonderman, Joel Zumaya, and former Yankee Phil Coke.

Henry Blanco and Ruben Tejada singled. Zumaya relieved Bonderman and immediately walked the pitcher Dickey on four pitches while he was trying to bunt, loading the bases with none out. Jose Reyes grounded into a fielder’s choice as Blanco was thrown out at the plate by Carlos Guillen.

Angel Pagan was pinch-hit for by Jesus Feliciano, who drove in a run with a groundout, making it 3-0. Pagan winced after fouling a ball off in the fifth, and after the game it was revealed that he left with muscle spasms.

After Feliciano’s run-scoring groundout, David Wright walked. The lefty Phil Coke came in for Zumaya, and after throwing two nasty sliders to Ike Davis, he threw one too many, as Davis ripped a single to right, scoring two more.

Dickey had a shot at a complete game, but Jerry Manuel wanted Francisco Rodriguez to throw some pitches after not pitching in five days, so he brought him in. Rodriguez allowed a single, (what else is new) but ended the game, as the Mets shut the Tigers out 5-0.

Dickey improves to 6-0, winning his last six starts, with an ERA of 2.33. The Mets have now won 12 of 13 at home, as they are 26-10 at Citi Field this season.

They will go for the sweep tomorrow night, with Hisanori Takahashi pitching for the Mets, opposite Mr. Imperfect game Armando Galarraga.

*NL East standings (top 3 teams)
Atlanta 42-29
NY Mets 41-30 (1)
Philadelphia 37-32 (4)
*does not include ATL result

Series probable pitchers:
June 24
New York: Hisanori Takahashi (2010: 6-2, 3.13 ERA) vs. Detroit: Armando Galarraga (2010: 2-1, 3.32 ERA)

Upcoming schedule:
New York Mets:
June 24 vs. Detroit Tigers
June 25-27 vs. Minnesota Twins

Detroit Tigers:
June 24 @ New York Mets
June 25-27 @ Atlanta Braves

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Currently, the Mets sport a rotation of Johan Santana , Mike Pelfrey, Jonathon Niese, RA Dickey, and Hisanori Takahashi. Dickey and Takahashi did not start the season in the rotation, but after John Maine and Oliver Perez hit the DL, Dickey and Takahashi took over.

As of right now Dickey and Takahashi are pitching very effectively, and are a big reason the Mets find themselves seven games over .500. With the likely return of Maine, the Mets should avoid tinkering with the success of the rotation and put Maine in the bullpen.

To start the season the Mets held out hope that John Maine and Oliver Perez would finally be able to put it together, and prove to be reliable pitchers in the rotation; however, neither impressed during their time with the team.

Oliver Perez, probably the player the Mets had the most staked on after awarding him a 3 year, 36 million dollar contract a season ago, played so poorly that the Mets tried hiding him in the bullpen. Unfortunately, he was just as ineffective there, and, after he refused a minor league assignment, the Mets banished him to the DL.

Maine’s story is a little more promising. He did not pitch very effectively to start, but after returning to being primarily a fastball pitcher Maine was able to pitch well enough to keep the Mets in games. The problem was he still had trouble pitching late into games and sustained an injury that forced him out of a game after throwing just five pitches.  This came just before he landed on the DL.

Maine has recently thrown in a rehab game and is working his way back to the majors. The question is: Should the Mets put him back in the rotation? Right now, the Mets are clicking, and a big part of that is the current starting rotation.

In addition the bullpen has been more effective as pitchers are pitching six, seven, or more innings. In fact Pelfrey and Niese started back to back games where they pitched for nine innings. While Dickey and Takahashi will never be top-line starters, they are getting the job done right now and that should not be tinkered with.  Especially in favor of a player that struggles to pitch five innings.

John Maine’s best career move looks like a transition to the bullpen. He has a lively fastball, but not a ton else, and like I keep mentioning, he has trouble going deep in to games. In the bullpen only one or two strong pitches are needed to be effective. It would be great to convert Maine into a set-up guy, or if we’re lucky, an eventual cheaper option to K-Rod at closer when Frankie’s contract is up after next season.

While Dickey and Takahashi’s effectiveness might wane as the season continues, John Maine is not a good replacement. He has had numerous times to prove his worth, and outside of 2007 has failed to do so.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

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Another day, another big time prospect comes to the majors.  Today it is Carlos Santana of the Cleveland Indians who was perhaps the best hitting prospect left down in the farm.  I wont start gushing too much about him, you will have to read the article to see the rest.  There is some injury news on one of the best players in the game, and also some of the more interesting pitchers of the night. 

Carlos Santana was FINALLY called to the major leagues by the Cleveland Indians and was third in the batting order in his first game.  He was 0-for-3 with a walk in his first action, but there is no doubt that the team has nothing but confidence in him and he will be their everyday catcher or at least DH if they think he needs a day off from behind the plate. 

There is absolutely nothing not to like about this kid.  He is just 24 years old and has hit at every level of the minors.  In 57 games in AAA in 2010, Santana was hitting .316 with 13 homers and 51 RBI. 

I think that he will have similar numbers to that of Buster Posey, but I think that he is going to hit more homers than his National League counterpart.  Santana is a good pick-up for any fantasy team, even if you have one of the top catchers in the league. 

The “groin injury” that caused Alex Rodriguez to come out of yesterday’s game turns out to be a hip problem after all, although according to his manager it is not in the area that caused him to have surgery and miss the first month of last season (although I don’t believe that for one second). 

He did not play on Friday and the team says that he is day to day.  If I had to guess, I would say that he probably won’t play until Sunday, but I wouldn’t be totally shocked if he was back with the team on Saturday.  It might cause him to miss some games sporadically over the next couple of weeks, but it appears that this won’t be  major. 

Austin Kearns is having a nice little bounce back year as he attempts to actually have a season that he can actually stay healthy.  Kearns has only played more than 90 games once in the last five seasons.  He had two home runs on Friday, bringing his season total to seven in just 40 games. 

If you are considering adding Kearns, allow me to offer these words of advice.  I can see you adding him to your roster if you are a little weak in the due to injury or other factors.  However, just know that this is probably going to be short lived because he has never proven to be consistent or able to stay on the field. 

For those of you who have been worried about Francisco Liriano regressing after his hot start, how are you feeling now? 

Liriano absolutely dominated the Atlanta Braves on Friday as he gave up just one run over eight innings and struck out a very impressive 11 batters.

This is now back to back games in which he has double digit strikeouts and has allowed only one run, so any concern coming off that little rough stretch should be gone.  His ERA is under 3.00 and he has more than a strikeout an inning for the season. 

R. A. Dickey got his fourth win in just five starts for the New York Mets, but I don’t see any way that you can possibly trust this journeyman knuckleballer to be a consistent contributor for you.  There is no way that you can take away today’s performance though as he allowed just one run over seven innings and struck out eight. 

Most of the time with knuckleballers it is either feast or famine.  Either the ball is jumping all over and it is hard to hit, or it just isn’t moving much at all and it is batting practice for the offense.  So far, so good for Dickey, but I think you are grasping at straws if you are expecting a 35 year old pitcher with a career record under .500 and a ERA of 5.31 to pitch well throughout the season. 

Granted it is easier to pitch when your team gives you nine runs of support in the first two innings, John Lackey had a strong outing today regardless of his cushion.  He gave up just two runs over seven innings and struck out three. 

Like I wrote last time he took the mound, I think the days of the John Lackey in Anaheim with the good strikeout numbers might be gone, but I still think he is a very viable fantasy pitcher.  He has gone from a possible staff ace to a very solid third starter on your team; but on the Red Sox he should really be able to pile up some wins as he got number seven on Friday.  It has been an uncharacteristic season for Lackey, but perhaps he can get back on track. 

Speaking of getting back on track, hopefully tonight’s game will do just that for David Ortiz .  Big Papi was starting to turn back into a pumpkin again as he had just one hit in his previous eight games—but he broke out big time on Friday as he collected three hits and drove in four runs to bring his season total to 39 RBI.  Looks like it is going to be similar to last year for Papi with a good number of homers and RBIs and a pretty putrid batting average. 

James Shields has hit a major bump in the road lately, a bump that hopefully is temporary.  He had a streak from April 22^nd to May 25^th in which he did not allow more than three earned runs, and now two of his last three outings he has coughed up at least seven.  He gave up a whopping ten earned runs on Friday in just 3.1 innings, but at least he struck out four (like that is any consolation to his owners!).

At least Shields is still getting exceptional strikeout numbers for his career, as he now has 82 whiffs in just 85 innings pitched, which is well above his career rate.  If you have Shields, you have to continue to start him no matter the opponent and hope that this is short lived. 

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R.A. Dickey pitched a one-hit shutout for the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo. He gave up a hit to the first batter and then retired the next 27 in a row.

After the first batter, Dickey pitched a perfect game, and only needed 90 pitches to do it.

“I felt like I could throw another nine (innings) right now and have the same result,” Dickey said. “That’s a good feeling.”

I’ve actually written about Dickey a few times recently because he has been pitching so well and economically lately. Here are his numbers: 3-1, 2.33 ERA, 38.2 IP, 5 GS, 2 CG, 1 SO, 22 K, 5 BB.

The reason why he might be helpful is because the Mets bullpen has been one of the most taxed in all of baseball. Mets relievers have thrown 82.1 innings and only the Pirates bullpen has thrown more.

With his efficiency, Dickey could help eat up some innings. The ‘pen has been a strength so far, but if these pitchers don’t get a rest soon they will eventually break down and become a weakness.

The thing is right now nobody is going to come out of the Mets rotation. Both Oliver Perez and John Maine are in danger of being taken out, but it hasn’t come to that. Hopefully they either keep it together, start going deeper into ball games or Dickey is able to keep his knuckleball together until he is needed.

Related Stories

• April 27, 2010: Yesterday’s Rain Out and the Pitching Staff (0)
• April 25, 2010: R.A. Dickey Might Not be a Bad Idea (0)
• April 24, 2010: Maine Might Miss a Start, But No DL Expected (0)
• April 14, 2010: If Not John Maine Than Who? (0)

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