The Mets defeated the Cardinals by the score of 4-0 this afternoon at Citi Field.
For a full recap and box score, check out SNY.tv here.
The Least You Should Know:
- R.A. Dickey started for the Mets today and he was brilliant, allowing just four hits in 8 1/3 innings of work.
- Ike Davis hit a three run home run in the third inning, and the Mets added a run in the fifth inning thanks to an RBI single by Carlos Beltran.
- Francisco Rodriguez notched his 22nd save of the season.
- Alex Cora went 0 for 4, and is now just 3 for his last 34 at the plate.
- The Mets won their first series since their June 25-27 series against the Twins at Citi Field.
…dickey was outstanding once again today, giving the Mets not just a much needed win, but a complete game effort which rested the bullpen…he also got some run support for a change…
…i love how he can vary the speed of his knuckleball as well as his fastball…he can get that fastball into the upper 80s, and then he floats the knuckler in which has been absolutely baffling for most of the opposition this season…
Game Ball:
Goes to R.A. Dickey for his near complete game masterpiece on the mound today.
Up Next:
The Mets open a three game weekend series against the Diamondbacks tomorrow night at Citi Field, with Mike Pelfrey facing Ian Kennedy. Game time is 7:10 pm.
I bow down to the almighty RA Dickey.
I panned him terribly this spring as well as Omar’s move to get him. But I was wrong. Even if it’s just a lot of luck in terms of timing and Dickey’s career, both Omar and Dickey deserve the credit for his brilliant contributions to the Mets this year.
I wouldn’t mind if Omar picked him up for another year. But knowing Omar, he’ll sign him to a 3 year contract
Is he a free agent after this season? If so, I can see his agent playing hardball with Omar. I hope he doesn’t.
If Dickey continues to pitch like this through September, over the winter I would offer him two years for about 7-8 million/year with a club option for the third year.
The Mets must sign Dickey for next year.
Agreed but if he’s a free agent, it might be tough to meet his price. There will be a lot of other teams after him if he has numbers like this at the end of the year. If only the Mets weren’t paying Ollie!
Dickey is amazing. He lowered his era to 2.32.
Hes becoming my favorite starter, along with Niese.
I actually feel most confident when Dickey is on the mound…I always know he will give us a good start, if not a great one.
Other than the 1 game he got lit up, I think he has had decent to great starts every other time.
If he had been hitting, he could very well be 10-2.
I think this team has one more good run left in them. They were showing signs of going into a slump right before the break, so I hope the worst is finally behind them.
Beltran and Reyes are finally looking like they have their legs under them a bit more so if this team can finally start hitting again it could be interesting.
They are doing what they always do. Win at home. But, you can’t just win at home and make the playoffs. They have to pick it up on the road, hit more consistently and keep up the amazing pitching.
The best thing about Ike’s homerun? He’d been out in front on a bunch of changeups in his previous at bat. But he was sitting on the changeup first pitch the next one and hit it 420+ feet to center field. It’s a sign of progress from Ike. If he can learn to lay off those bad pitches and start hitting the off speed stuff better then we’ve got a .300/40/100 guy in our lineup. And of course… I love The Dickey.
I really don’t mean to rain on the parade, but I don’t really see see Ike being that type of player….Just to give some perspective, .300/40/100 is Piazza territory – that I don’t really see happening.
The part I take issue with most is the avg. part. Ike has never been a .300 hitter, and I see him more in the .275 range.
As for the HR’s, he has hit 15 in 330 AB’s, which translates into 25 in 550ab’s, or roughly a full season. While it is possible for him to knock another 10 out, I see him hitting between 20-25 dingers this year. He is only 23 years old, and provided he continues to make the adjustments that he is making now, he could definitely evolve into a 35HR guy, with an upside of 40, especially with the RF porch at Citi (not like he needs it – has he hit one less than 410 feet?). Combining the power with hitting behind Reyes and Wright, and Ike should easily be a 100 RBI guy.
In college Ike hit .329 in 2006, .349 in 2007, .385 in 2008, and in the minors he hit .298 in 2009 and .364 in 2010, as well as .400 in 2009 spring training and .480 in 2010 spring training.
Ike has never NOT been a .300 hitter!
College isn’t the same as the minors – they use aluminum bats, for starters.
I’m not sure where your stats are from, but as per baseball reference, Ike hit .256 in ’08. In 2009, he hit .298, so you’ve got me there. His .364 avg this year was over 10 bats, so you can’t really put weight into that. Same goes for ST, where you typically are not playing against major league pitching.
When he hit .256 he also didn’t hit ANY homeruns. He was really off in his first year in professional baseball. There is absolutely no reason that he can’t be a .300 hitter. I’m not saying he’s going to be a .330 hitter, but there’s no reason he can’t be in the .290-.310 range. He has ridiculous power and pitchers are going to learn to fear his bat. If he can learn to lay off those bad pitches, he could easily push his OBP into the high .300′s pushing .400.
The point is, he has been known to be a high average hitter since he was drafted by Tampa out of high school — he hit for high average in college (relative to other college players using aluminum bats) and other than his first pro year in 2008, he has hit over 300 at every level since.
So what would you like him to do in ST — hit .900?
Oh I agree that he certainly push his OBP up into the high .300′s. I just don’t see him being a consistent .300 hitter. Sure, perhaps he can hit between .300-.310 in a season, but I just don’t see him being a consistent .300 guy – its not that easy to achieve. I know I said I see him as a .275 hitter above, but I think .275-.290ish would be more of a fair assessment.
I can see where you’re coming from, but if he can learn to lay off some of those bad pitches I don’t see why he couldn’t be a .300 hitter. I mean, Keith Hernandez thinks he can be a .300 hitter. And Keith knows more about hitting than I do, so I’ll take his word for it.
Go Dickey!
If Ike gets somewhat hot over the next two months does anyone feel he has a shot at Rookie of the Year?
yes sir
uh…he’s not a rookie
uh…yes he is.
What world are you in? What would you classify Ike as?
I think that abstractly speaking, Ike is having a ROTY type year. But in reality, the prize is more likely to go to Strasburg, Heyward, or Posey.
Great guy to have as your #5 pitcher in the rotation. We are seriously a #1-2 pitcher away from having an awesome rotation.
We don’t give Omar credit for moves like this..However, I do blame Omar for not immediately addressing the Mets urgent need for another starter.
If Takahashi stayed in the pen and we had a decent pitcher that pretty much got the same result Takahashi did,we’d has atleast a couple more W’s..Every game is going to count if we’re chasing the wild card or east
We must sweep the diamondbacks,anything less is unacceptable
Everything that goes up must eventually come down. So by that logic I would prefer the Mets to take 2 out of 3 against the D-Bags and then proceed to sweep the Braves and Phillies.
How about they go on a 10 game winning streak starting today?
That would certainly be nice, but maybe if our prayers aren’t asking for quite as much they’ll actually be answered? If we pray for lots of rain, the gods will call us greedy, but if we ask for just a teeny bit, they might reward us for our selflessness.
Mets have a history of playing poorly against bad teams, so two of three is fine with me…if they can do the same against the braves and phillies.
Santana 14 QS / 22 GS
Pelfrey 11 QS / 21 GS
Niese 8 QS / 18 GS
Dickey 11 QS / 14 GS
Of his 3 non-QS: 1 was the 7/25 game 0 ER / 5.2IP, a game early on where he gave up 4 ER in 6IP? and that game in PR. Lowered his ERA to 2.32 and WHIP to 1.161. He is now 7-4. With a bit more luck he could easily be 11-2. I have no idea how long he’ll last (and I’ve been saying that for over a month now), but until it breaks he is a lot of fun to watch.
Does that mean you don’t agree with Gary’s assessment that Dickey could just be starting his career? I agree he’s lots of fun to watch and I fully expect him to be a part of the Mets future.
he’s restarting his career, but he has a limited track record. The thing is thiough, his KB is nasty. It may not break as much but it still breaks randomly. But the tradeoff (a good thing) is the control he gets from it’s speed.
Well he DOES have a slower one that breaks more, he just doesn’t seem to use it as often. It seems like with every start he’s gaining better command of that knuckleball. I’m really excited for this guy. He’s no Niekro, but as they pointed out in today’s broadcast, Niekro won 121 games after the age of 40 and Dickey is only 35.
Where are all the haters? Not that I can blame them for hating these past 2 weeks, but I think its funny how much less action these boards get when the Mets win. Here’s to hoping for another hot streak.
Anybody think they should keep Hessman up?
I think they need him to legitimately have a backup for Ike/Wright. This 3 catcher thing will come to a head eventually…
He’s essentially replacing Tatis. Can play all the corner positions including corner OF in a pinch. Unfortunately I’m sure Barajas coming back will knock Hessman back down again.