Subway Series: Mets Give Yankees a Knuckle Sandwich

Boo hoo, Squawker Lisa. The Yankees had to face a knuckleballer last night - that's not fair! Some Yankee excuses from last night's game:

"It's tough to hit whenever you go up against a knuckleballer." - Russell Martin

"There's just no rhyme or reason to it." - Curtis Granderson

"No one knows where it's going so it's kind of hard to have an approach against him" - Derek Jeter

Actually, this year it's kind of hard for Jeter to have an approach against most pitchers, but I digress. The Yankees can make all the excuses they want, but R.A. Dickey had a 5.08 ERA going into last night's Subway Series opener. In his last start, he gave up six runs and 11 hits to the weak-hitting Astros. Even most Met fans didn't think Dickey had a chance to pitch well in the Bronx.

But for one night at least, Dickey looked like the pitcher the cheap new front office was willing to give a two-year contract. It's great to see Dickey come through and Mets pitching continue to be on a roll. The Yankees got just four hits Friday after scoring 13 runs Thursday night. In the Mets' previous two games, they shut out the Nationals, who then scored 17 runs last night. It doesn't matter if half the Mets' lineup is from Triple A if the pitching is this good.

And by the way, for all the Yankees' complaining, Dickey only pitched six innings. While the Mets rotation still looks shaky, the bullpen could be the best the Mets have had since 2006.

Look on the bright side, Squawker Lisa. Maybe the world will end tonight before the Yankees have to think of excuses about why they struggled against Chris Capuano.

Carlos Beltran, R.A. Dickey and thinking positively

You'd never know it from the way many people write about them, but the Mets have had a few bright spots this season. R.A. Dickey is one of the most amazing stories in years on the Mets or any other team. ESPN's Mark Simon even invented a new "metric," STAR (Story Above Replacement), to pay tribute to the Mets' knuckleballer.

Sometimes I wonder if good news on the Mets is so hard to come by because there is a fear of admitting that Omar Minaya ever did anything right. Such an admission could help upper management rationalize that Minaya is not doing such a bad job after all, so he deserves to remain as GM.

So I am inventing my own new metric, GMAR (General Manager Above Replacement), and making sure that, even with credit for Dickey, Omar's GMAR is too low for him to keep his job.

But while Omar needs to go, it's important to give him credit where credit is due. New management should build on what the Mets already have, not blow it all up and start over. Which brings us to Carlos Beltran, whose performance this weekend in Philadelphia suggests that it's time to rethink wondering how much salary the Mets would have to eat to get him off the team.

In Sunday's game, Beltran hit two homers, one from each side of the plate, and made a sensational diving catch to help assure that the Phillies would not clinch the division in front of the Mets. But Beltran's most important contribution may have come Saturday, when he slid in hard at second base, trying to take out Chase Utley in retaliation for Utley's hard slide Friday night.

Perhaps it's a sign of the negativity surrounding the Mets that on Sunday's pregame, Kevin Burkhardt compared Beltran to Shawn Estes, who infamously threw behind Roger Clemens rather than hitting him in retaliation for Clemens' broken bat insanity in the 2000 World Series. Burkhardt was not the only person to note that Beltran missed both Utley and shortstop Wilson Valdez, meaning that once again the Mets' response failed to match the original offense.

But unlike Estes, Beltran did all he could to "hit somebody," as Beltran later said he wanted to do. Utley's ability to jump out of the way should not detract from Beltran's effort, especially considering that Beltran went in with two bad knees.

Beltran might be one of the last players most fans would expect to be the one to step up and defend his teammate. Unfortunately, except for the injured Johan Santana, I'm not sure which player I would most expect to step up.

As Met announcers frequently noted, Utley's slide wasn't really dirty, but indicative of how hard the Phillies always play. Why don't the Mets always play that way? Which brings us to Jerry Manuel's MAR (Manager Above Replacement) which has certainly marred the Mets.

The Mets need some new players along with new management, but at least some of the current players are offering reason to hope* that next year will be better.

*(I was thinking about a Hope Above Replacement metric, but I didn't want Squawker Lisa to point out that the acronym would be HAR.)

Thanks to no K-Rod, Jerry Manuel couldn't ruin R.A. Dickey's complete-game shutout again

On June 23, the Mets led the Tigers, 5-0, after eight innings. Starting pitcher R.A. Dickey had thrown only 97 pitches, allowing four hits, two walks, and retiring the last 13 batters he had faced. Dickey tried to talk manager Jerry Manuel into letting him finish the game, but as Dickey said afterwards, "I was unsuccessful."

That day, Dickey lost a chance for the second complete-game shutout of his career because closer Francisco Rodriguez had not pitched in five days and Manuel wanted to give him some work. K-Rod pitched a scoreless ninth and the Mets beat the Tigers.

Tonight, Dickey had thrown 99 pitches when he took his shutout into the ninth. He had only allowed one hit, but it was a much tighter game - 1-0. And the Mets were playing their division rival Philadelphia. With 9-1-2 due up, the Phillies' top of the order would be coming up.

If K-Rod had been available tonight instead of serving the second game of his two-game suspension, there's a good chance Manuel would have brought him in. Manuel manages save situations by the book. Ninth inning, 1-0, facing Philly - that's book.

Manuel also seems too slow to trust players without a track record. Gary Matthews Jr. started over Angel Pagan on Opening Day. Even when Pagan put together an All-Star caliber first half, he was initially relegated to a platoon with Jeff Francoeur when Carlos Beltran returned.

Also, K-Rod needs to finish a certain number of games over this season and next for his 2012 option to vest, which could have something to do with the manager trying to placate his closer by using him whether or not he is needed.

So despite Dickey's success this season, K-Rod might well have been called on to close if not for recent events. And who knows, K-Rod might have closed it out - he had been on a hot streak lately.

But in K-Rod's absence, Manuel was forced to give Dickey the chance to show that he could complete a one-hit shutout. And now the Mets have a starter who had done that much more to solidify his place in the rotation next year.

Maybe it was the curse of denying Dickey his complete game on June 23, but that win over the Tigers, the Mets' second straight over Detroit, was the last time the Mets won two in a row before tonight.

Going Gaga over R.A.

Are the Mets for real? Is R.A. Dickey for real? Maybe they're the same question.

After tonight's win over the Tigers, the Mets are now 41-30, eleven games over .500. With tonight's win, Dickey moves to 6-0. Hisanori Takahashi is 6-2. Without the two big surprises of the Mets' staff, the team would be one game over .500, around what many expected of them this season.

Everyone keeps waiting for Dickey to come back to earth, but he now has wins in six straight starts and an ERA of 2.33. Six of his seven starts have been quality starts. Dickey has given up more than three runs only once, and in that start he gave up four runs in seven innings.

If Dickey keeps up this pace, he'll belong on the All-Star team. I'm not quite ready to go that gaga over him, but it's starting to look as if he's a legitimate part of the rotation.

And he'd better be. Takahashi too. Even if Johan Santana starts pitching like the Santana of old, no sure thing, Mike Pelfrey will probably not continue at his 9-2 pace. The Mets struck gold with Dickey and Takahashi - what are the odds that they can do it again with their farm system?

The Mets just signed Ramon Ortiz after he was released by the Dodgers. Ortiz is 37 with a lifetime ERA of 4.93. He has only had one season with an ERA under 4, back in 2002 for the champion Angels. If the Mets have to turn to Ortiz as a starter, they are in big trouble.

Most of the starters available in trade don't look much better. Jake Westbrook basically has had one good year in his career, and that was back in 2004 when he was 14-9 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. That was his only full season with an ERA under 4. Westbrook also doesn't strike people out; even in 2004, he had just 116 K in 215 2/3 innings.

Kevin Millwood is 1-8 with a 5.12 ERA. He might do better away from the awful Orioles - Millwood has given up 19 homers, 14 at home. Presumably many of those balls might not go out of Citi Field. But on the road, where Millwood has given up five homers in 50 innings, he still has an ERA of 5.04.

If the Mets don't want to give up top prospects - and they shouldn't - they won't get Cliff Lee.

Atlanta just lost, so the Mets are now just a half game out of first. The Mets lead the wild-card race by 1 1/2 games over the Giants, who lost tonight as well. And they wouldn't be in this position without a 35-year-old knuckleballer who started the season in the minors.

Dickey too tricky for Phillies

"Lost" may be over, but I feel like we're still in some sort of alternate reality:

• A Met starting pitcher (R.A. Dickey) was injured early, stayed in the game even though his injury was getting worse, and still shut out the Phillies over six innings.
• A Met reliever (Raul Valdes) put the first two batters on, then struck out the heart of the Phillies order, three of the best hitters in baseball (Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth).
• A bitter ex-Met (Nelson Figueroa) returned to Citi Field for the first time in an enemy uniform, and instead of showing the Mets they made a mistake, gave up three earned runs, including RBI hits from Raul Valdes and Luis Castillo.
• After planning to get together with a friend visiting from out of town, his sister came up with tickets to last night's game at the last minute and was nice enough to give them to us. They were in the first row of field level in left field. It's been a while since I've sat near fans who brought their gloves to the game. Thanks again, Jen!
• The numerous Philly fans in attendance, quite vocal at the start of the game, quieted down as the game progressed, and the rout was on.
• Dickey and Valdes combined to shut out the two-time defending NL champs, 8-0.

The hitters also defied expectations, but I'm hoping this is a return to an earlier, more pleasant reality:

• Jose Reyes had three hits and two stolen bases.
• Jeff Francoeur had two hits.
• David Wright did not strike out.

I did not realize until I got home that Dickey's elbow was X-rayed during the game and it eventually forced him to leave. I'm glad that Dickey was able to convince the coaches to let him tough it out for six innings. But I don't want to be hypocritical after criticizing John Maine for the same attitude.

In last week's Maine incident, the question was whether or not to trust the player, which the Mets clearly didn't. But the real issue is whether to trust the coaches and the medical staff, which was often not the case last year. Assuming Dickey doesn't turn out to be more seriously injured, both the coaches and medical staff came through last night.

While the Mets now have three wins in four games against last year's World Series teams, they are still only at .500 and tied for last place. So let's not start printing playoff tickets just yet. But it's still been a great week so far.