Tricky Dickey vs Blake Hawksworth aka the guy with the cool name
This was R.A. Dickey's 62nd major league start!
It was also game 1500 for Pujols.
It was also Umbrella Day at Citi Field.
And David Wright had the day off and Crash Davis Mike Hessman was in the lineup.
NO CASTILLO in the lineup, YAY!
Really this was a magical afternoon for the Mets. Everything just went perfectly. And of course I was the hater at the beginning of this one who thought Manuel's decision to use Dickey on only 3 days rest would be a mistake. Boy do I love being wrong! Seriously it's an amazing feeling! Dickey's knuckleball was dancing like no other at Citi Field today. R.A. pitched 8 1/3 innings of shutout ball (4 hits, 2BB and 2K)and it was delightful. If he hadn't looked so spent in the top of the 9th he would have picked up his 2nd career complete game shutout. But after Dickey walked Jay and there was only one out and men on 1st and 2nd with Pujols up to bat Manuel opted to go with K-Rod and R.A. was out of the game. I actually understood Jerry's decision. I know most people, well the crowd at Citi didn't approve of Manuel's choice but I was okay with it. Dickey looked tired out there and he had thrown 118 pitches and well K-Rod doesn't always suck so I was team Jerry today!
And what do you know K-Rod got Pujols to fly out and he struck out Holliday, there was no 9th inning drama and Dickey got his 7th win and the Mets won. But I can't just give all of the kudos here to R.A. and Frankie. Another major component in this victorino was the incredible ISAAC BENJAMIN DAVIS! Ike blasted a 3 run homer with 1 out back in the 3rd inning. Again this kid just proves how amazing he is on a daily basis. I could gush about Ike for hours and hours! This homer of Davis' is his 15th (he's now tied with Wright for the team lead) and he has 52 rib eye steaks!
The Mets added another run in the bottom of the 5th. With one out Crazy Horse Pagan tripled. Yay Angel! Then Beltran rbi singled in the Metsies 4th run! And Carlos looks like he's heating up and I like it, I like it a lot!
And this Mike Hessman is one impressive dude. I wasn't sure if he was a utility guy or not and well he is. Kiner informed fans that Crash Davis can play any position in the outfield, first base and third base. He put on a show at 3rd base today and it was that kind of show you could watch for hours on end. He was just a delight. I only wish he could play 2nd base so Castillo could just disappear. I know this is going to sound horrible but well I have to sound off a bit. There's this "New York State Smokers' Quitline" commercial that airs during every Metsies game on SNY. I actually hate this commercial. In it this little adorable boy is getting ready to play baseball, he throws a ball to well his dead dad. There is no one there to catch the ball and it just drops. This ad just hurts my heart and I know it's a good message about not smoking and all but it's just a "debbie downer wah wah wah" of a commercial. Having said that I wish Luis Castillo no harm but I kind of hope when I see this commercial that this kiddo is actually throwing the ball to Castillo, that Castillo is the man not there. Of course he'd be perfectly healthy and he just wouldn't be there because he'd be on another team or vacationing in Miami. I don't care how much he's being paid just ugh I want him permanently out of the lineup.
But enough of my bitching and moaning about Luis let's get to the booth shenanigans. They were great. Keith and Gary were joined by Ralph Kiner!
In the beginning of this one the camera man got a great shot of a man bringing a big thing of fries back to his seat. These fries were smothered in ketchup. This caused Keith to say, "Oh LORD." Then Hernandez went on to say he loves fries and ketchup on his fries! Keith also added that in Europe since they like to put mustard on fries he tried it out and well he's a fan of that combo! Gary asked Mr. Hernandez if he likes vinegar on his fries and Keith was not having that. To him the vinegar and the grease from the fries is a terrible no good very bad combination! However, Keith said he loves vinegar on raw oysters. Gary did not agree. Cohen prefers horse radish on his oysters.
Keith and Gary were talking about the most hated teams ever in sports. Keith shared that his 86 Metsies according to "Sports Illustrated" are the 13th most hated team EVER. Keith said, "But we were such nice guys!"
When discussing Beltran Keith said, "You can't expect Carlos to come back like a house on fire." What does that really mean?
Ralph told Gary and Keith he was born in 1922. Keith thinks his Dad was born that year too. But Keith admitted last night that he's terrible in math so chances are his father was born at least 5 years later than that. Maybe even a decade later.
Then in the bottom of the 4th inning Kevin was spotted in the stands surrounded by tons of fans with foam fingers. Burkhardt was in "Foam Fingerville!" These fans were all holding up Gary, Keith and Ron foam fingers as were Keith, Gary and Kiner back in the booth!
Kevin was not special and he did not get one of these foamed fingers but a kid in the stands offered him a bottle of Gatorade. Life is not so bad for Mr. Burkhardt!
Keith said he used to run at Central Park but because of his bad back he sadly cannot run. Poor Keith!
Keith predicted there would be no more rain during this game. He was wrong! In the top of the 8th it started pouring. Then he mentioned how he's been converted and he now loves Dickey. He also said Dickey is 38. Nope Keith he's 35! His math is really bad!
Ok folks well the Mets won a road series at home like they used to do all the time this season and well they won a series. I'm on such a high right now from this game. I don't want it to end! Pelf faces Kennedy and the D-Backs tomorrow and hopefully the Mets can do what they are supposed to do and clobber Arizona!
Have a great night and let's go Mets!
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