Same Old Tricks

The remarkable R.A. Dickey storyline for this season found its way back on track last night in another of what has been a string of stellar performances. Though his minor hiccup last week against the Yankees last Sunday knocked him out of the National League's ERA and strikeout lead, he still is the top winner in the Majors, and with his 12 wins prior to the All Star Break, it seems rather likely, barring injury or some unforseen run of poor luck, that Dickey will finally break this 22-year streak the Mets have had without a 20-game winner.

It's helpful, both for Dickey and the rest of the Mets, that they seem to be catching the Dodgers in the middle of a bad slump. I haven't seen much of them this season, but I know that they got off to a real fast start but it seems as though they have a massive amount of injuries to key players, among them Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. They appear hard pressed to win games with a lineup littered with the likes of Jerry Hairston, Jr, Scott Van Slyke, Dee Gordon and Tony Gwynn, Jr. Perhaps if each of their respective fathers were playing, maybe this wouldn't be a problem. But as we have seen happen to the Mets in prior seasons, sometimes these injuries can pile up and the collective stink can affect the entire team. The Dodgers are probably a much better team than they've played lately, but they're not hitting at all. This was certainly evident Thursday night when, despite some fine pitching from old friend Chris Capuano, they couldn't muster any sort of offense off Chris Young outside of a 4th inning spurt. And if they looked bad and came out on the short end of the Battle-Of-Chris's-Who-Have-Come-Back-From-Myriad-Arm-Injuries, then what sort of a chance did they have against R.A. Dickey coming off his first bad outing in 2 months? The result was obvious.

I suppose it's to the Mets benefit that they are catching the Dodgers at their thinnest. You take whatever breaks you can get, but of course, you have to take advantage of it too, and the Mets look to be in one of their periodic hot streaks right now. This, hopefully, will continue to pass for the next few days.