According to Scott Cacciola of the Wall Street Journal, R.A. Dickey declared himself fit to return to the mound for the Mets this week, and he was happy to report that the nail on his right index finger was 100% healthy.
This is big news for the Mets, who are relying on Dickey—who owns two of the most important fingernails in baseball—to help bail them out of their early-season malaise.
Dickey, a knuckleball pitcher, split his fingernail slightly in a 6-2 loss to the Washington Nationals on Friday. He sustained the injury in the first inning, and he had no choice but to file the nail down in the dugout before the top of the second.
This cost him valuable control and caused the ball to spin more than it typically does.
In his last start against the Phillies, Dickey had one of his worst outings as a Met and even walked a career high five walks in the game. Despite being a knuckler, Dickey has always exibited excellent control and maintained a low walk rate.
Hopefully this is the last we’ll hear of this problem and Dickey can go on to replicate the success he had last season for the Mets.
