Dickey probably could have gone the entire game tonight the way he was dealing – 7 dominant innings led the Mets to a 3-2 victory.

Summary

I have come to the conclusion that I need to see as many of Tricky Dick’s games as I possibly can, because this man can seriously pitch. R.A. started tonight and was foolishly removed after 7 innings (I will get to that in a short while) after allowing 5 H, 0 BB, an ER, and striking out 11. He took advantage of an aggressive Pirates lineup tonight and it looked masterful. Cue Rauch to take over with a 3-1 lead in the eighth, and a little trouble for Danny Murph going back on a broken bat McCutchen pop up allowed a run to score. Tim Byrdak would be on to finish the eighth with an easy out. Kudos to him once more. And lo and behold, the aggressive Pirates stayed aggressive and got Frank Francisco through the ninth for save number 11 for him.

Mets were on the board early in what turned out to be somewhat of a pitcher’s duel, as James McDonald went 7 IP and allowed only one run – an RBI single down the line for Mike Nickeas, where he was thrown out at second by Jose Tabata. The Mets would break a 1-1 tie in the 8th with a scorched RBI single for Lucas Duda. It was a 2-out RBI single that was followed by a well-hit ball to third by super Murph, which was bobbled by Alvarez and led to the second run of the inning. Let it be known that preceding Lucas Duda was David Wright, who K’d on a really…confusing pitch with 1st/2nd and 1 out.

Earlier in that innings, Dickey was leading off and Collins pulled him for PH Andres Torres. So. Many. Things. Wrong.

Dickey would probably have been a more formidable bat at the plate at this point with Torres  1 – 30 something at this point. In addition, after only 88 pitchers, 0 BB, 11 K, and overall domination in a pitcher’s park, you remove RA Dickey? Terry… I can’t defend you here, brother.

Defense on the infield was not bad out there today – exception being Murphy’s little mishap. The outfielders had a little trouble out in PNC today but it did not hurt as much as it could.

Hero Of The Game

I could gush over R.A. Dickey all day, man. All day. He improves to 6-1 and lowers his E.R.A. to 3.45.

Notes

So let us see… Frankie lowers his ERA to an impressive 7.13. Impressive only in the sense that he has 11 saves with an ERA over 7. Hold #11 for Byrdak, 4th for Rauch.

You’re killing me, Collins.

11 strikeouts for Dickey is a career high.

On Deck

Jon Niese looks to rebound from the shellacking he took over the border against the Pirates tomorrow, and will be opposed by Charlie Morton. Niese is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career starts vs. the Bucs. 12:35 start.