Meet the Mets

Dickey be praised! The Mets cruised to a 2-0 victory and a 3-1 series win behind the fluttering knuckleball of R.A. Dickey. And while you might think Dickey couldn't possibly get more awesome, let me just point out he is now using the Game of Thrones theme as his at-bat music. The Mets offense didn't do much, but when you have R.A. Dickey on the mound, you only need to pull out enough to win. One run should do the trick. The Mets welcome the Phillies into town for three games starting today at 1:10 PM. Jon Niese opposes Coal Hammels. Adam Rubin has the series preview.

This is the start of a punishing stretch of games that will take the Mets through to the all-star break. Let's see what this team is made of. If they can come out the other side still six games over .500, I'll be ready to saddle up for meaningful games in September.

Before we start focusing on the Phillies, Mark Simon goes inside the numbers of the Mets/Padres series. Mostly to talk about how awesome R.A. Dickey is. I'll allow it.

It was Banner Day at Citi. Jason Fry of Faith and Fear in Flushing takes some time to reflect, and Mets Police has video of all the banners.

David Wright is slumping? TRAID! But seriously, extend him now, his value will never be lower again! Also, extend R.A. Dickey while you are at it.

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Dan Hahn snapped this sweet panoramic photo from Section 326, Row 5, Seat 11 during this afternoon's game between the Mets and the Padres at Citi Field:

(click to embiggen)

Crazy Nyce Dave took this one from Section 18, Row 19, Seat 4:

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Send the view from your seat to amazinavenue@gmail.com and if it's good we'll post it on the site. Include date of game and your section/row/seat (or location) from when the photo was taken.

Like Johan Santana yesterday, R.A. Dickey was dominant against the Padres this afternoon. In 7.1 innings, Dickey struck out 10, walked just 1, and did not allow a run. Over his last there starts, Dickey has 29 strikeouts and just 2 walks in 20.1 innings. He is now the owner of a stellar 3.06 ERA, and it looks like he is even better than he was in 2010 and 2011. After a winter in which the Mets were written off as a complete joke, it sure is a lot of fun to watch Dickey and Santana pitch on a regular basis.

The Mets' bats didn't do a whole lot, but a Daniel Murphy RBI single in the first gave them an early lead, and Mike Baxter scored on a passed ball in the fifth for the Mets' second and final run of the day. Ike Davis didn't make any progress this afternoon as he went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, but he was not alone in his struggles at the plate.

When Dickey ran into a bit of trouble in the eighth inning, the bullpen came in and closed out the game without issue. Tim Byrdak retired the only two batters he faced after entering the game for Dickey with runners on first and second and one out, and Frank Francisco pitched a one-two-three ninth inning to finish the game.

Yes, the Mets played the Pirates and Padres, two of the worst offensive teams in the game this season, over the past seven games. But they mostly did what they should have done against both teams, and they now 27-21 as they prepare to host the Phillies for three games beginning tomorrow afternoon at 1:10 pm.

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R.A. Dickey allowed just three hits and one walk over 7.1 innings, striking out ten Padres and keeping San Diego off the scoreboard altogether. His only bit of trouble came in the eighth, when he hit Nick Hundley and walked Chris Denorfia to put the tying runs on base with just one out. Terry Collins relieved Dickey with everyday Tim Byrdak, who got pinch-hitter Alexi Amarista to line out to center and then struck out Will Venable to end the inning. Frank Francisco set the Padres down in order to lock up the victory, throwing nary a chair in the process.

The Mets scored their first run in the first frame on an RBI single by Daniel Murphy which plated David Wright; their second run came in the fifth when Mike Baxter, who had doubled and advanced to third on an Edinson Volequez wild pitch, scored on a passed ball by Hundley. They didn't get much more offense to speak of, but those runs coupled with a fine pitching performance and a lousy Padres lineup were enough to give the Mets their second straight shutout.

We knew it was over when...

Dickey arrived at the ballpark. He had no-hit stuff today.

What else?

• Wright went 0-for-3 with a walk and his average plummeted to .382. Embarrassing.
• Justin Turner went 2-for-3, raising his on-base percentage to .310. Uh huh.
• Francisco is now tied for second in the NL with thirteen saves. Saves are meaningless piffle, of course, but if the Mets fall out of the race there are surely some credulous general managers out there who'd love to have a Proven Closer™ for the playoff push.

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by CTRefJay; that effort in the game thread embiggens us all.

Meet the Mets

In Saturday's Applesauce, I stated that the tenets of winning baseball organizations include hitting well, pitching well and defending well. It was a purely tongue-in-cheek line. But then, the Mets went out and did just that on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Padres 9-0 on the strength of awesome pitching from their ace, a trio of home runs, and some sound defense. So, who deserves the credit for Saturday's victory? Well, mostly the players on the field, who did a great job at playing baseball. Also Terry Collins, for putting the right guys in the lineup and for motivating them to play the game the right way or something. Finally, let's thank the doctor who performed the surgery on Johan Santana's left shoulder. Johan has been spectacular so far this year and yesterday, he tossed his first complete game shutout since 2010, a four-hitter in which he struck out seven Padres and only threw 96 pitches. Now that's efficiency! The Mets got on the scoreboard early, as Scott Hairston ripped a 3-run bomb to left center off of Clayton Richard and just two batters later, Vinny Rottino followed with his first big league bomb. That was the end of the scoring until the bottom of the eighth, when an Ike Davis pinch double knocked in the fifth run of the day. Soon thereafter, that fearsome Canadian-born slugger Michael James Nickeas ("Mike" for short) strode to the plate and poured icing on top of the cake with a grand slam, his first home run of the year. Just for reference, all three bombs wouldn't have been home runs a season ago, meaning that we can give Sandy Alderson and his fence moving abilities credit for this victory. And that's probably it.

(Did you really think I was going to selfishly demand credit for the Mets obviously reading and taking to heart what I wrote here a day ago?)

Choose Your Recap: MLB.com, ESPN NY, Daily News, New York Times, Associated Press, Star-Ledger

The Mets look to take three out of four from the Padres in this afternoon's series finale. It'll be R.A. Dickey on the hill for the Mets and he'll face off against former Cincinnati Red Edinson Volquez. Game time is at 1:10 PM and you can catch all of the action on SNY.

With Ruben Tejada taking a bit longer to return than initially hoped, the Mets have been fortunate to receive solid play at shortstop from Ronny Cedeno. The team got a bit of a scare when Cedeno left for a pinch-runner in Saturday's eighth inning but luckily, it looks like he just had a leg cramp and he should be fine.

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*All results from games played on Saturday, May 26th

Send all of your questions about the Mets farm system to AAProspectMailbag@gmail.com to see them answered here!

AAA - Buffalo Bisons (28-21)_______________________________________

BUFFALO 8, SCRANTON- WB 7 (Box)

Another 8-7 slugfest in Buffalo, but this time the Bisons came out on the winning end. Fred Lewis hit a three-run home run to help stake Garrett Olson to a 6-0 lead, but the southpaw gave it nearly all back on three home runs during a five run fifth for the Yanks. Justin Hampson couldn't hold the lead, giving up the fourth home run for the Yanks, but the Bisons struck back for two of their own, and then Fernando Cabrera nailed down his tenth save of the season.

• 2B Jordany Valdespin: 1-4, RBI, K, CS
• 1B Josh Satin: 1-3, R, BB, K;
• PH Brad Emaus: 1-1
• RHP Elvin Ramirez: 1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K; No really, he pitched for real this time.

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