4
2012
Dickey Denied 15th Win as Ball and Win Slips Out Of Thole’s Hand In Mets 3-1 Loss
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“Just didn’t get my free hand on the ball. Outfielder hits the cut man, cut man throws a one-hopper to me. Couldn’t have drawn it up any better. I just couldn’t get my bare hand on the ball.”
R.A. Dickey was the hard luck loser as the Padres defeated the Mets by a score of 3-2 last night at Petco Field.
Things were going perfectly for Dickey as he held the Padres hitless until Yonder Alonso singled with one out in the fifth inning. The Padres manufactured a run in the bottom of the sixth when Everth Cabrera walked, was bunted over to second, stole third and finally scored on a sac fly by Chris Denorfia. That tied the game at 1-1.
However the back-breaker in this contest came in the seventh when Carlos Quentin who had singled scored on a Yonder Alonso double. The throw from Ronny Cedeno to the plate beat Quentin who barreled into Josh Thole was unable to hold onto the ball as the Padres scored the tie-breaking run. Simply put, Thole misplayed it all the way and was so worried about being hit he failed to secure the ball in his glove with his other hand.
The Padres went on to win the game and deny R.A. Dickey his 15th win of the season. Instead he gets tagged with the loss, just his thrid of the season. He allowed three runs, two earned in seven innings on four hits and struck out nine.
“It stings a little bit because we should have won that game”, Dickey said after the game. “We have to win games like this. We have to compete to have a shot at working our way back into this thing. I didn’t execute a pitch or two, but we had some funny plays too. Regardless, it’s a game that I think everybody in here thought we should have won.”
Thole, who was probably thinking about that concussion he suffered earlier this season, was charged with an error on that play at the plate.
The only run of the game for the Mets came in the fourth inning when after a David Wright walk, Scott Hairston singled to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Ike Davis and Jason Bay both fail to deliver with pop flys until Ronny Cedeno broke through with a single to score Wright to put the Mets up 1-0 at the time.
Ruben Tejada and Ronny Cedeno each had a pair of hits as the Mets had nine base-knocks in the game compared to just four hits for the Padres.
Jeremy Hefner (1-4, 5.52 ERA) will try and even the series tonight at 8:35 PM and will oppose right-hander Edinson Volquez (7-7, 3.51).
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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The dream of a 20 win season for Dickey may have taken a hit with this loss. It’s been a long time since the Mets have had a 20-win pitcher so in that sense this loss was very tough to take. When this season started, I knew we were playing all these defensively challenged players at key positions, but I figured as the season evolved they would get better and they didn’t. Catching may never get better and it’s surprising no attempt was made to change that at any point this season. I dont think you can have a championship caliber team with Josh Thole as your catcher.
The smell of fear was all over Thole on that play.He had plenty of time to set himself and tag the runner,Put that aside as he is not the first catcher to drop th ball in that situation.What is unacceptable to me is a starting catcher with 1 homer and 15 ribbies in August.Horrible production plus he is average at best on defense.He is another of the many quad a players on this roster.A Shoppach or a Hernandez might have added a little punch to this team but the emperor Alderson is busy planinng for 2013 and 2014.Plus Thole makes hardly any money which makes a Alderson kind of player.Feel sorry for Dickey.Crime he did not get the win last nite.
Thole’s play was bad. Hairston’s defense on the same play also was not good.
Most rightfielders would have easily caught that ball and it would have been an out instead of a double rendering the play at the plat moot.
I agree, Hairston probably should have caught that ball. If he does, then there is no collision at the plate. Hairston also made an out at 3B on Cedeno’s IF single trying to go from 2nd to 3rd which cost the Mets a runner in scoring position. As for Thole’s play, yes he should have been able to get a good grip on the ball, but he is not the 1st catcher to ever drop a ball in that spot. I’m sure you could find where Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk dropped a ball or two in their careers costing their teams a run or a game. Plus, Carlos Quentin is no little dude either, at 6’2 and 235 lbs. Thole might as well have been run over by a Mack truck. If the runner had been Alexi Armarista or the SS Cabrera maybe Thole holds onto the ball, but when you get steam rolled by a 235 lb outfielder you’re dealing with a great deal of force on impact.
Bench and Fisk averaged more homeruns in a month than this loser will hit in his career.Not the greatest comparison imho
Even with the bad bullpen, the weak offense and so-so starting pitching, I would imagine the Mets would have at least a half dozen more wins with adequate defense at C, 2B and RF. Duda alone cost the team 3-4 wins directly. Thole is good for that many as well. Murphy probably the same. If defense wasn’t taken so lightly in putting together the 2012 Mets, we’d still be in the wild card lead and going to the playoffs.
That ball hung up there long enough for most rightfielders to be under it and waiting. I have no idea why Hairston decided to slide like he was stealing 2B. He’s not a good defensive player at all. I wouldn’t mind seeing them have a platoon in LF with Hairston and Duda for next year though. Neither one should be anywhere near RF.
How is the reason we lost on Thole, when we only scored one run? Offensively, did not get it done.
I never blame a loss on one thing. It accumulates over a game, missed call here, an error, blown double play, failure to bunt, etc. It all evens out in the end. Just like life.
Totally agree with you Lou, although I felt Thole had plenty of time to avoid the collision and slap tag the guy somewhere.
Can we get a REAL catcher in here? Please?
This one is not hard to figure out what went wrong. Pitching was there but the defense and bats weren’t.
9 hits are misleading as the Mets scattered those hits and couldn’t really bunch them together. I think they were something like 1 for 8 with RISP tonight. While hitting into 3 double plays as well.
Wright and the Mets fell asleep on that delayed steal that eventually scored on a sac fly. Hairston looked like he could of had that ball but even if he didn’t the out should of definitely been made at home but Thole with ample time to set still allowed the ball to pop loose. Sigh
After that Wright k’d in the 8th killing the best chance to get back in it for the most part since Spin was unable to pick Wright up and grounded out to end the inning.
Need to win today.
LGM!
Wright played like total crap yesterday. Just enough went wrong team-wide. Never the clutch hit when we needed it.
Trying loss for sure.
Need to come back and blast these guys out of their own ball park tonight and tomorrow.
What worries me most is that Thole might not have put that collision and concussion behind him and thus he is always going to have a split second hesitation out of fear for quite a while now. That is not what one wants to see on plays that weren’t even close.
If I remember correctly, what contributed to the severity of that earlier concussion was his not keeping his face mask on at the time.
I like Thole and had high hopes for him but he does appear not be a thinking catcher, one who is unable to keep pitches in front of him and now one who is intimidated by oncoming runners. His hitting would be acceptable if it wasn’t for all that above and so the Mets might be seriously thinking of a new starting backstop down the road. But for now, it’s too early to think in terms of local Camden Maran and Kevin Plawecki.
Did anyone get pissed seeing Murphy looking at THREE STRAIGHT fastballs to strike out, ending the game?
Same thought here..Looked like Murph had to fo to bathroom and Collins told him to grab a bat at last second.Never saw him so passive as a PH before
They need another catcher, Thole is a back up at best. Hopefully they address the need before the start of next season.
Why? The only thing this front office has addressed in almost two years is the pen and they sucked at it. The only thing you should hope for from this crew is wither resignation or firing.
Sounds like your absolving Dickey of any or all responsibility for the loss Joe. Walking Cabrera and giving up the sac fly were on Dickey, as was the hit after the botched play at the plate. If your going to find fault for losses there are a lot of places to look.