Tejada, Murphy, And Dickey All Amazin’ In 9-0 Victory

It seems like the first two games in Chicago are just a blimp on the Mets memories these days as they continue to knock around the Dodgers. After a close game on Thursday, the Mets went back to one-sided ball games with an offensive explosion and another great start from R.A. Dickey.

R.A. Dickey continues to put up big bids on being the All-Star Game starter, and tonight is no different. He even teased us with another one-hitter. His first hit given up was in the third inning to pitcher Aaron Harang, arguably because Andres Torres was lackadaisical going after the ball. Dickey wouldn’t give up another hit until the seventh inning that ruined the one-hitter. He pitched masterfully the whole game but was pulled for a pinch hitter after eight scoreless innings. I’m sure he can’t be too happy about that decision, and I agree with him. He did throw 116 pitches, but could have easily finished the game.

In the end Dickey ends with eight shutout innings, only allowing three hits, one walk and ten strikeouts. That makes it five double-digit strikeout games this year for Dickey, the most in the majors right now. Dickey gets his NL leading twelfth win of the season and lowers his ERA to 2.15 on the season. Impressive.

Jeremy Hefner got the call to finish out Dickey’s amazing performance. He gave up a base hit to the first batter he faced, but gets the next three guys to fly out to end the game.

Mets had quite the offensive show tonight, capitalizing nine runs on fourteen hits. The hitting parade was lead by Ruben Tejada who went 4-for-5 tonight with a double, a HBP, two runs scored, and an RBI. He reached base five times tonight, a career high for him. He’s also hitting .318 on the season.

David Wright and Ike Davis both had one hit tonight. Both contributing with an RBI each in the third inning as well. David Wright is hitting .359 on the season while Ike is still just under the Mendoza line with a .198 batting average. Ike Davis did have an error in the game as he pulled a Luis Castillo with a dropped popup in the bottom of the fifth.

Before tonight, Lucas Duda had an 0-for-15 drought which he snapped with an RBI single in the fifth. He went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, an RBI, a walk, but also two strikeouts. Josh Thole also had two hits tonight and scored a run.

Daniel Murphyhadn’t hit a homerun in a year but now has three homeruns in three days as he hits a three-run dinger into left in the seventh inning. Combine that with his two-run double in the fifth, gives him five RBIs on the night. This matches a career high for him, last time was in 2009 against the Nationals.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Andres Torres were the only Mets without a hit tonight, both getting 0-fers. They both drew a walk, and both struck out twice. Kirk dropping to .271, while Torres barely beating Ike with a .208 average.

R.A. Dickey even joined the hitting parade with a base hit of his own in the seventh. He now has a three game hitting streak and is hitting .371 in that span.

Game Ball

R.A. Dickey with his amazing start and Daniel Murphy turning it back around with five ribbies tonight.

Notes

I think we are all happy Ruben Tejada is back. He has ten hits, three RBIs, and five runs scored in the six games he’s been back. Also, his batting average is higher than Jose Reyes, just throwing that out there.

R.A. Dickey in June: 6 starts, 5-0 record, 48.1 IP, 21 H, 0.93 ERA, 55 K, 8 BB, 3 CG, 2 shutouts. Also had those two, one-hit games.

David Wright is anxiously waiting to see if he was voted into the 2013 All-Star Game, hitting .359 should have made him a no doubter, but as of Thursday morning, he was slightly behind Pablo Sandoval. Teams announced on Sunday.

Aaron Harang hit Ruben Tejada with a pitch before being pulled from the mound. Dickey retaliated by hitting Dee Gordon. Just protecting his team’s players.

Aaron Harang was mentioned in R.A. Dickey’s memoir, “Wherever I Wind Up.” He was mentioned with the paraphrased context of “Thank you, Aaron Harang, wherever you are…Whenever I have a rough outing, I find somebody who had an even worse day than me…Harang gave up nine hits and seven runs in four and a third innings against the Rockies. Today he supplies the comfort. I feel less miserable for knowing this.” Some other pitcher out there might use this as well, as the Mets rocked Harang.

Earlier this season, Carlos Beltran joined the 300-300 club, and tonight had his 2,000 career hit. Congratulations, sir.

Oliver Perez has been sighted once more with Seattle against the Red Sox. Tossed two scoreless innings in relief. ERA is now 1.69.

Up Next

Johan Santana goes up against Nathan Eovadi (0-4, 4.4 ERA) as the Mets continue to play the Dodgers. First pitch set for 7:15 PM on Fox