Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Big Two-Oh

2012 Topps Archives, #148

On Thursday afternoon, R.A. Dickey became the sixth different pitcher in N.Y. Mets history to win 20 games in a season.

It was pretty fitting that Dickey (20-6) notched his 20th victory on the final home game of the 2012 Mets schedule.  Because outside of Dickey, there hasn't really been a reason to watch the Mets post-All Star break (if at all this season).

Things didn't look promising early on for the knuckler, as the Pirates touched him up for three runs over the first four innings at Citi Field.  But, as he usually does, Dickey gutted it out and actually got some help from a normally listless Mets offense.  David Wright delivered the biggest blow when he broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth with a three-run homer.

Dickey's final line: 7 2/3 innings, 8 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 13 K, 128 pitches.

He joins Tom Seaver (4 times), Jerry Koosman, Dwight Gooden, Frank Viola and David Cone in the Mets' 20-win club.  Seaver's 25 wins in 1969 is the Mets record for single-season victories.

I may be biased, but this guy is the hands-down NL Cy Young award winner.  The Mets, as a team, have 72 wins; Dickey has 20 of them.  That's 28% of his team's win total.

He's got the wins, he's got the stats, and now all he needs is the hardware.

Don't get me wrong, Cueto and Gio Gonzalez and Kimbrel are all great pitchers.  But, this is Dickey's year.  He was the best pitcher at the break (should've started the AS Game), and with one start remaining, he's on pace to be the best pitcher at season's end.

Here's hoping the voters agree.

MK

3 comments:

  1. yeah, he totally got robbed from the all-star game start. just checked the stats, i didn't realize that he had over 200 K's and led the league in ERA. how can you not love the guy?

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  2. It's close, but I've gotta say Cueto is right there, too. He's only a little behind Dickey in ERA, and he's doing that in Great American Small Park.

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  3. Based on that 20 game winner list, I'm going to start referring to it as a "68 Koosman"

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