R.A. Dickey evidently is done receiving favors this season.
The Mets knuckleballer really should have no complaints. Among the team’s starting pitchers, the 3.9 runs per game he has gotten in support this season is easily tops. But those lavish days are over.
For a second straight start Dickey was good enough to win, but received no bailout from a comatose lineup. And so, he gained no traction in his drive toward 20 wins with last night’s 3-1 loss to the Phillies at Citi Field.
“Especially the way we’ve been playing, I feel like the team looks to me to try and right the ship,” Dickey said after the Mets lost for the ninth time in 10 games. “To not be able to do that is tough. Tonight was a tough one in that regard.”
Dickey (18-6) is left with three attempts for the two victories he needs to become the Mets’ first 20-game winner since Frank Viola in 1990. Dickey is also trying to keep pace with Nationals lefty Gio Gonzalez (whom he considers his stiffest competition in the NL Cy Young award race). Gonzalez lost to the Braves on Sunday, but remains the NL’s only 19-game winner.
Dickey allowed three runs over seven innings for a second straight start, but saw his ERA drop slightly, to 2.67, because the Phillies’ first run was unearned.
“You feel for him, because all he’s done is give himself a chance to win the baseball game,” Terry Collins said.
Cliff Lee (6-7) limited the Mets to one run over eight innings. The Mets extended a franchise record by scoring three runs or fewer at home for a 14th straight game.
Jimmy Rollins and Dominic Brown each hit solo homers against Dickey, who hadn’t lost consecutive starts this season before last night. Dickey’s eight strikeouts not only moved him one behind Clayton Kershaw’s 206 for the NL lead, but also made him the first Mets pitcher since Johan Santana in 2008 to reach 200.
Rollins scored an unearned run against Dickey in the first inning after reaching base when catcher Mike Nickeas was charged for a passed ball on strike three. Rollins later advanced to second when Dickey threw wildly on a pickoff attempt. After John Mayberry advanced Rollins to third with a ground-out, Chase Utley’s sacrifice fly made it 1-0.