Mets vs. Marlins Preview: Game #112 — R.A. Dickey vs. Josh Johnson

Today's game notes, courtesy of @Mets.

Teams: Mets vs. Marlins
Date: Thursday, August 9, 2012 • 12:10 p.m
Location: Citi Field • Flushing, NY
Starters: RHP Josh Johnson (7-7, 3.85) vs. RHP R.A. Dickey (14-3, 2.82)
TV/Radio: SNY • WFAN • WQBU
Info: Game #112 • Home Game #55

Lineup

Ruben Tejada – SS
Mike Baxter – RF
Daniel Murphy – 2B
David Wright – 3B
Ike Davis – 1B
Jordany Valdespin – LF
Andres Torres – CF
Josh Thole – C
R.A. Dickey – RHP

METS AT A GLANCE: The Mets have dropped three in a row and four of their last five games...New York is 5-5 in its last 10 games...The Mets are 7-18 since the All-Star break.

AT HOME: The Mets lost their ninth straight home game last night, the club’s longest home losing streak since they also dropped nine consecutive games at Shea Stadium, August 28-September 12, 2004 ...The nine-game losing skid is tied for the sixth-longest in team history...The last time the club had a longer home losing streak was in 2002 when they set a franchise record losing 15 straight games...The Mets last home win came on July 7, a 3-1 triumph over the Cubs... Overall, the Mets are 26-28 at home...Daniel Murphy ranks third in the majors with a .362 batting average at home.

VS. NL EAST: New York began the year 13-5 against the National League East but is 6-17 over its last 23 games vs. the division.

VS. MIAMI: The Mets have dropped the first two games of this series to the Marlins...The last time the Mets were swept in a three-game series was September 8-10, 2009 at Citi Field...The Mets have been swept six times this season (at Houston, at Yankees, vs. Cincinnati, at Atlanta, vs. Los Angeles and vs. Washington)...New York is now 7-9-2 in home series and have been swept in their last two home series.

SHUTOUTS: Last night’s 13-0 loss, was the second-most lopsided shutout at home in team history...The Mets lost 16-0 to the Braves on July 2, 1999...New York has been shut out five times this season.

DAY BASEBALL: Daniel Murphy (.365) and David Wright (.342) own the top two batting averages in the National League during day games ...New York is 24-18 in day games this season...The 24 victories are tied for the third-most in the majors.

VS. RIGHT: David Wright ranks sixth in the National League with a .321 batting average vs. right-handed pitching and Daniel Murphy is 10th with a .308 mark.

LEADOFF: The Mets leadoff batter reached base five times last night...The Mets have scored at least one run in 55.8 percent of the innings in which their first batter reached base (177 of 317)...That’s the highest percentage for any National League team...The N.L. average this season is 50.9 percent...The Mets have scored at least one run in 15.7 percent of the innings in which their first batter did not reach base (105 of 669)...That’s the 10th-highest percentage in the National League...The N.L. average this season is 15.5 percent.

RUBEN TEJADA: Extended his career-best hitting streak to 13 games last night, going 1-3...Tejada is batting .362 (21-58) with four runs scored and two RBI during this current stretch...The Mets shortstop is hitting .331 (56-169) with a .374 on-base percentage since he returned from the Disabled List on June 24.

LEADING SHORTSTOPS: Ruben Tejada’s .322 batting average is the highest among all major league shortstops (min. 260 at-bats)...Arizona’s Willie Bloomquist is second (.308)...Tejada also has the second-highest on-base percentage (.370), behind Texas’ Elvis Andrus (.371).

DAVID WRIGHT: Ranks third in the majors with a .419 on-base percentage, seventh with a .325 batting average and ninth with 32 doubles...Wright is tied for seventh in the National League with 72 RBI and tied for eighth with 67 runs scored...Wright is one home run shy of becoming the third player in franchise history to reach the 200 home run plateau...Darryl Strawberry (252) and Mike Piazza (220) are the others...Wright is also three RBI shy of 800 for his career.

STARTERS/RELIEVERS: Mets starters rank eighth in the majors with a 3.90 ERA...New York’s bullpen has the worst ERA (4.97) in the majors.

R.A. DICKEY: Is tied for the National League lead with 14 wins, is second in the NL with 156 strikeouts and is fifth with a 2.82 ERA...Dickey joined Tom Seaver (1975) and Frank Viola (1990) as the only pitchers in franchise history to be the first National Leaguer to reach 14 victories in a season...Dickey won 11 straight decisions, the third-longest streak in franchise history from April 25-July 19.

JOSH EDGIN: Has not allowed a run in his last 10.0 innings dating back to July 18...The 10.0 scoreless frames equals the season-high from a Mets reliever this season...Jon Rauch tossed 10.0 shutout frames in April earlier this year.

RISP: The Mets went 0-10 with runners in scoring position last night and are 6-40 (.150) over their last five games...The Mets are hitting .259 with RISP on the season, ranking 11th in the majors ...The Mets are hitting .275 with runners in scoring position and two outs, the second-highest average in the majors.

TWO-OUTS: The Mets have scored 14 of their last 20 runs with two outs...New York leads the majors with 221 two-out runs this year...New York is hitting .267 with two outs, the third-highest average in the majors ...New York’s pitching staff has surrendered 205 runs with two outs, the fourth-most in the majors.

LOB: The Mets left 10 runners on base last night and have stranded double-digits in four of their last seven games...Overall, New York has left 787 runners on base, the fourth-most in the National League.

JOHAN SANTANA FOUNDATION: Will host its first-ever Wine Tasting Fundraising Dinner tonight at Del Posto on 10th Avenue in New York City...The event will raise awareness about Melanoma and funds to help build a multi-sport complex in Santana’s hometown of Tovar, Venezuela...Media availability is from 6 p.m.-7 p.m...Fans can also bid on auction items online at www.Charitybuzz.com/Johansantana.

IKE DAVIS HELPS FEED THE BIG APPLE: Following today’s game, Ike Davis will participate in the Mets post-game food collection to promote the Feeding the Big Apple initiative...Since 2006, the Mets, Aramark have collected unsold food at Shea Stadium and Citi Field for delivery to area food kitchens to help feed the hungry.

POSTGAME CONCERT: The Mets postgame concert series will continue tomorrow night when MercyMe will perform following the MetsBraves 7:10 p.m. game...The concert is presented by Duane Reade and Just for Men and tickets are still available by calling 718-507-TIXX or online at Mets.com.

OLYMPICS: Brittany Viola, the daughter of former Mets pitcher and current Savannah Sand Gnats pitching coach Frank Viola, advanced to the semifinals of the women's Olympic 10-meter platform diving competition yesterday...She did not advance to the finals after diving earlier today...Frank Viola is in London to support his daughter.

LAST START: Received his third loss of the season in the Mets’ 3-1 defeat at San Diego on August 3 …Pitched 7.0 innings, allowing three runs, two earned, and four hits...Walked three and struck out nine...This was Dickey’s first loss after the Mets had won the previous game all year...Last season, Dickey recorded his third loss on April 20 vs. Houston, his fifth start of the year...Dickey now has a career-high 156 strikeouts, surpassing last year’s total of 134 in his July 24 start vs. Washington.

BACK ON TRACK: Dickey surrendered four hits in 7.0 innings his each of his last two starts, the ninth and 10th times this season he has allowed four hits or less in a start of 6.0 innings or more...This is the second best total in the majors this season, trailing only Gio Gonzalez (Was) who has compiled 11 such starts...Dickey also struck out nine in his last start, his second consecutive start of eight strikeouts or more...Dickey now has 10 starts in which he has struck out eight or more this season, good for second in the majors...Stephen Strasburg (Was) has 10 such starts, and they trail Max Scherzer (Det), who has 11 such starts.

RANKS: After his start at Arizona on July 29, Dickey became the first pitcher in the NL to reach 14 wins this season...He is tied for the NL lead in wins with Johnny Cueto (Cin) and A.J. Burnett (Pit) and is second in the Major Leagues behind Jered Weaver (LAA) who has 15...Has five double-digit strikeout games this season, which is tied for second in the majors with James Shields (TB) behind Yu Darvish (Tex), who has six...Also has recorded 17 quality starts, tied for fourth in the majors...Has struck out 156 in 153.1 innings this season, tying him for fifth in the majors and tying him for second in the NL...His K/BB ratio of 4.33 ranks sixth in the majors and sixth in the NL...Has limited opposing righthanded batters to a .204 (61-299) batting average this season, good for ninth in the majors and seventh in the NL.

PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Dickey was named the NL Pitcher of the Month for the month of June...Went 5-0 with 0.93 ERA (five earned runs/48.1 innings pitched)...Began the month with 37 consecutive innings without surrendering an earned run dating from June 2 vs. StL to June 24 vs. NYY...Threw three complete games and two shutouts...Also threw consecutive complete-game 1-hitters while striking out 10 or more in each.

WINNING STREAK SNAPPED: Dickey’s loss in his start vs. Washington on July 24 snapped a streak of 11 consecutive winning decisions dating to April 25 vs. Miami...The 11-game win streak was the best of his career and the third longest in Mets history...Dickey’s streak spanned 16 starts, also tied for the third longest streak of consecutive starts without a loss in Mets history...This was the first home loss for Dickey of the season and his first since falling to Washington on September 12, 2011, 3-2.

ROUGH PATCH: Following his start vs. Washington on July 24, Dickey had allowed eight or more hits in each of his previous four starts, dating back to his July 5 start vs. Philadelphia...This was the second longest streak of his career and the longest span since he allowed eight hits or more in five straight starts from May 8, 2004 to May 28, 2004 as a member of the Texas Rangers...During this span, Dickey has had starts of 10 hits allowed at Washington on July 19 and a career high-tying 11 hits allowed in his July 5 start vs. Philadelphia...These starts marked just the ninth and 10th times Dickey had allowed double-digit hits in one game in his career, spanning 125 starts.

ONE-HIT WONDER: On June 18 vs. BAL, Dickey became the 10th pitcher since 1900 to record consecutive one-hitters...Became the first pitcher in modern baseball history (since 1900) to register back-to-back complete game one-hitters with 10 strikeouts or more in both starts...It also marked the first time a pitcher had thrown back-to-back complete games while allowing one hit or less in each since Dave Steib notched two in a row for Toronto on September 24, 1988 at CLE and again on September 30, 1988 vs. BAL...The last NL pitcher to throw consecutive complete games while allowing one hit or less in each was Jim Tobin as a member of the Boston Braves on April 23, 1944 (one-hitter) vs. Philadelphia and a no-hitter on April 27, 1944 vs. Brooklyn.

CAREER-HIGH STRIKEOUTS: Dickey recorded 12 and 13 strikeouts in back-to-back starts at Tampa Bay on June 13 and again vs. Baltimore on June 18, respectively, setting a new career-high each time...He first set his career-high striking out 11 at Pittsburgh on May 22.

MORE STRIKEOUTS: Has recorded back-to-back double-digit strikeout games twice this season...Became the first Mets pitcher to have back-to-back double-digit strikeout games since Pedro Martinez struck out 10 at Philadelphia on May 9, 2006 and another 10 at Milwaukee on May 14, 2006...He is the first Met since David Cone in 1988 to have two separate back-to-back double-digit strikeout games in the same season...Dickey has six double-digit strikeout games in his career, five this year, and all with the Mets.

RELIEF: Allowed two runs in 1.0 inning of relief vs. Los Angeles on July 21 at Citi Field...This was Dickey’s first relief appearance since April 17, 2011 at Atlanta.

LAST WIN VS. MIAMI: Won, 9-3, at Marlins Park on May 12 of this season...Pitched 6.0 innings and allowed two runs, earned, nine hits, and one walk...Did not record a strikeout, just the sixth time in his career he failed to fan a hitter in a start...It was the first time he had failed to fan a hitter in a start since September 19, 2010 vs. Atlanta...Also the first time he had won a start without striking a hitter out in his career.

LAST LOSS VS. MIAMI: Lost, 3-10, on June 28, 2010 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico...Pitched 5.0 innings, allowing five runs, three earned, five hits, and one walk...Struck out three.

CAREER VS. MIAMI: In 11 career games, nine starts, Dickey is 7-2 with a 3.51 ERA (23 earned runs/59.0 innings pitched) vs. Miami.

KEY MATCHUPS:

• Carlos Lee - .381 (8-21, 3 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 2 K)
• Giancarlo Stanton - .231 (3-13, 2B, RBI, BB, 5 K)
• Jose Reyes - .167 (2-12, 3 K)