So apparently R.A. Dickey was available out of the bullpen on Saturday. Presumably because the All-Star break is coming up and Terry Collins wanted to get him some work in case Tony La Russa decides to be the fly in the punch bowl and not pitch him because he’s scared that two all-star catchers can’t catch a knuckleball. But also perhaps because Terry’s bullpen, which was used plenty on Friday, frightens him. Hell, it doesn’t frighten you?
But the guy you wouldn’t necessarily expect to be the stopper, save the ‘pen and prevent a losing streak from forming would be Dillon Gee. But he scattered seven hits over eight innings and didn’t walk a soul to help the Mets to a 3-1 victory. He outmatched Jeff Samardzija, who even without the Wrigley wind blowing out fell victim to the long ball as Jordany Valdespin and Ike Davis tagged him early in the game and let Gee do the rest. And once again, I was extremely impressed with Bobby Parnell’s work. This might have been the best outing he had all year even though he gave up the hit to Anthony Rizzo. He was throwing curveballs and spotting a 101 mph fastball with near-perfect precision. The foul balls by Brian LaHair and the two near misses to Steve Clevenger tested him. But he didn’t implode … just kept going, got the outs and ended the game.
Not without help from Ruben Tejada, of course, to rob LaHair.
So let me get this straight, home runs, a solid bullpen (albeit Parnell for one inning), aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand defense to boot? If the Mets had gotten this before maybe they wouldn’t have dropped three out of five to the damn Chicago Cubs.
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