Much Needed Knuckleball Win in Milwaukee

R.A. Dickey seems to be a player that doesn’t get excited by much.  As a matter of fact, I don’t think I have seen him smile since he was brought up from Triple A.

Maybe it’s because I am so used to seeing player’s pound their chest and point to the sky for every success on the field.

This includes getting a hit, a walk, a sacrifice fly, a productive out, getting down a sacrifice bunt, and grabbing the regular flavor of sunflower seeds instead of the dreaded barbecue flavored ones.

Most pitcher’s would appear to be thrilled with having a 2.84 ERA and a 2-0 record in their first three starts.

Not R.A. Dickey.

Upon watching him at the end of today’s game, he appeared to be heading out to his lunch break after a successful power point presentation over next quarter’s revenue.

Enjoy it R.A.!

Too each their own I guess.

Frankly, I don’t care if he ever cracks a smile, as long as he continues to put the Mets in position to win the games he starts.

Some Dickey detractors  may point out that today’s performance included four earned runs.

That number is deceiving, because he kept the Brewers close, enabling the offense to finally brake free and put the Mets ahead.

It is also crucial that he pitched seven innings, which gave the bullpen a rest.

Slow Waking Offense

For a while, it appeared that the offense wasn’t going to come through today.  They let Randy Wolf off the hook repeatedly in this game.

Major league offenses should muster more than two runs when a pitcher gives up five hits and five walks in five innings of work.

Thankfully, the Mets woke up in the sixth, largely due to Luis Castillo.

The Brewers walked Jose Reyes intentionally to load the bases with two outs to get to Castillo.

Interestingly enough, Castillo was poised to take a 3-1 pitch for a walk to force in the go ahead run, but Mark Carlson decided to change his zone and call a pitch three inches off the outside corner a strike.

Luis preceded to slap a single up the middle scoring Jeff Francoeur and Henry Blanco.

That huge two out hit ignited the offense as they were able to plate six more runs later in the game to make this a comfortable win.

Overall, the Mets scored ten runs on sixteen hits.  Not bad for a team that looked lifeless at the plate in the first five innings.

Big Bats 5-8

David Wright, Angel Pagan, Jeff Francoeur, and Henry Blanco combined to go eleven for seventeen with six doubles, six RBIs, 12 runs, and one home run.

Francoeur was four for five with two doubles (both of which were to right center).  And they said Jason Bay was streaky….

On Deck

The Mets head out west to face the San Diego Padres on Monday night.  Hisanori Takahashi will face Kevin Correia in game one of this three game series.

Barajas and Blanco Are Making Minaya Look Like a Genius

All winter long I read about how  the Mets were going to sign Bengi Molina.

Yesterday, news broke that Molina is still bitter that he didn’t wind up with the Mets.

I am still trying to understand his rationale for complaining, when he turned down the Mets’ one year 5 million dollar offer and wound up accepting a one year 4.5 million dollar deal with the Giants.

Instead of Molina, Omar Minaya decided to stick to his guns and not offer a two year deal to Bengie Molina.  He chose to sign Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco to handle the pitching staff instead.

Handle the pitching staff, they have.

I will be the first to admit that I don’t understand all of the nuances that go into calling a game behind the plate.

However, I do get the feeling that both Barajas and Blanco have a plan for every situation their pitchers face.  More importantly, their pitchers appear to believe in the plan that B Squared has provided.

If you would have told me that Barajas and Blanco would have helped straighten out this pitching staff at the beginning of the year, I would have gladly accepted it, without a care about their performance at the plate.

Not only have they helped straighten out the pitching staff, they have become an integral part of the offense.

Barajas especially.

He is leading the team with nine home runs and is starting to convince fans that he is a legitimate clean up hitter.

The much maligned Minaya needs to be given credit here.  Instead of giving in to an over-priced veteran, he came up with a better solution that has improved the Mets both offensively and defensively.

Barajas and Blanco have placed an exclamation point on how right this move was.  They have given the Mets back to back wins with walk off home runs.

Right in front of Molina’s eyes.