Regardless of where the Mets are in the standings, it's always a smart move to watch R.A. Dickey pitch if at all possible. The affable knuckleballer has been quite good since he joined the Mets in 2010, but this season is something else.
In Miami on Friday night, Dickey threw his third complete-game shutout of the year, which also happened to be his fifth complete game in total. In his nine scoreless innings of work, he gave up just five hits and walked three as he struck out seven. He looked even better in the ninth inning than he had all game, striking out two of three batters he faced, one of whom was the incredibly powerful Giancarlo Stanton. As James Kannengieser pointed out, Dickey led the Mets to victory in a mere 2:07, one of the shorter games you'll see in Major League Baseball these days.
With the shutout, Dickey is sporting a 2.63 ERA and 3.09 FIP, and he has the best Cy Young Award case in the National League. Forget Johnny Cueto and his far inferior strikeout total. When Dickey goes on the Cy Young, Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen has some advice:
Ozzie on RA Dickey, who's 4-0 vs
— joe capozzi (@joecapMARLINS) September 1, 2012#Marlins: "When he makes his speech for Cy Young Award, make sure he mentions the Marlins, please.''#mets
Dickey didn't need much support against the Marlins, but Ike Davis gave him three runs with which to work on a sacrifice fly and a moonshot two-run home run in the fourth and seventh innings, respectively. The rest of the Mets' lineup didn't do much, but it didn't really matter because Dickey was on the mound.
SB Nation Coverage
* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Fish Stripes Gamethread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: R.A. Dickey, +48.9% WPA
Big losers: Josh Thole, -7.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Ike Davis's two-run home run in the seventh, +16.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: David Wright's line out to second with runners on the corners and nobody out in the fourth, -7.4% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +48.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: +1.1% WPA
GWRBI!: Ike Davis