Today's game notes, courtesy of @Mets.
Teams: Mets vs. Padres
Date: Friday, August 3, 2012 • 10:05 p.m
Location: PETCO Park • San Diego CA
Starters: RHP R.A. Dickey (14-2, 2.83) vs. LHP Clayton Richard (7-11, 4.14)
TV/Radio: SNY • WFAN • WQBU
Info: Game #107 • Road Game #55
Lineup
Ruben Tejada - SS
Andres Torres - CF
David Wright - 3B
Scott Hairston - RF
Ike Davis - 1B
Jason Bay - LF
Ronny Cedeno - 2B
Josh Thole - C
R.A. Dickey - RHP
METS AT A GLANCE: The Mets have won four of their last five games after losing 14 of their previous 16 contests...New York is 5-5 in its last 10 games...The Mets are 6-14 since the All-Star break...New York is 15-19 in the first game of a series, including 7-10 on the road.
ON THE ROAD: New York is 5-3 on its season-high 11-game road trip ...The Mets are 26-28 overall on the road this year...David Wright leads the majors with a .370 road batting average...The Mets have scored 271 runs on the road, the second-most in the majors...Los Angeles (AL) is first with 277...The Mets are averaging 5.02 runs per game on the road which is second in the majors...New York has allowed 267 runs away from Citi Field, tied for the third-most in the majors...The Mets have yielded 4.94 runs per game on the road, the fourth-most in the majors.
ONE IS NOT LONELY: The Mets held the Giants to one run for the second straight game yesterday...It was the 27th time this year, New York’s pitching staff has held its opponent to one run or fewer, the most in the majors...The Dodgers and Athletics are tied for second with 25 such games.
SCORING EARLY: New York has scored nine first-inning runs during the first eight games of the road trip, including four first-inning runs yesterday...The Mets have plated the first run of the game six times during this road trip...The Mets are 37-17 when they score first.
TWO-OUTS: The Mets scored eight of their nine runs yesterday with two outs...New York leads the majors with 215 two-out runs this year... New York is hitting .267 with two outs, the third-highest average in the majors...New York’s pitching staff has surrendered 194 runs with two outs, the fourth-most in the majors.
SCOTT HAIRSTON: Has hit in five straight starts, going 10-22 (.455) with seven runs scored, two doubles, two home runs and seven RBI...Since the All-Star break, Hairston is hitting .333 (18-54) with 11 runs scored, six doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI in 18 games.
HAIRSTON HOME RUNS: Scott Hairston hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning to tie the game on July 30 at San Francisco and a solo home run in the 10th inning in an 8-7 victory...Hairston became the second player in franchise history with a game-tying home run in the eighth inning or later and a go-ahead home run later in the same game, according to ESPN Research...The other Met to do it was Todd Zeile in a road win against the Phillies on June 2, 2004...Hairston has 16 home runs that either tied the game or put his team ahead in the seventh inning over the last six seasons.
DAVID WRIGHT: Ranks third in the majors with a .426 on-base percentage, sixth with a .333 batting average and tied for 10th with 72 RBI...Wright is eighth in the National League with 66 runs scored and is third with 62 walks...Wright is one home run shy of becoming the third player in franchise history to reach the 200 home run plateau... Darryl Strawberry (252) and Mike Piazza (220) are the others...Wright is also three RBI shy of 800 for his career.
PITCHING NOTES: The Mets have allowed two runs over their last two games...Mets starters rank eighth in the majors with a 3.81 ERA...The bullpen has not allowed a run in four of its last six games posting an ERA of a 1.65 (three earned runs/16.1 innings) during these six contests...The pen has allowed at least one run in 14 of 20 games since the All-Star break...Overall, New York’s bullpen has the second-worst ERA (4.95) in the majors...The pen has lost 21 games, the third-most in the majors and has 17 blown saves, the third-most in the majors.
R.A. DICKEY: Is tied for the major league lead with 14 wins, is fifth in the majors with 147 strikeouts and is sixth in the National League with a 2.83 ERA...Dickey joined Tom Seaver (1975) and Frank Viola (1990) as the only pitchers in franchise history to be the first National Leaguer to reach 14 victories in a season...Dickey won 11 straight decisions, the third-longest streak in franchise history from April 25-July 19...Dickey defeated the Padres, 2-0, at Citi Field on May 27 earlier this season...He pitched 7.1 shutout innings and allowed three hits, walked one and struck out 10.
JOSH EDGIN: Has not allowed a run in his last eight outings, spanning 7.1 innings...Overall, he has racked up 18 strikeouts in 10.0 innings of work...Lefties are 4-23 (.174) with 12 strikeouts against him.
RONNY CEDENO: Tied his career-high with five RBI yesterday at San Francisco...It was the second five RBI game of his career, last accomplished on April 22, 2008, with Pittsburgh against the Mets...All five RBI came with two outs.
RUBEN TEJADA: Went 1-5 yesterday to extend his hitting streak to eight games...Tejada is batting .351 (13-37) during that stretch...The Mets shortstop is hitting .324 (48-148) with a .361 on-base percentage since he returned from the Disabled List on June 24.
ANDRES TORRES: Has hit in 12 straight road games dating back to July 13...Torres is batting .457 (19-40) during this stretch.
DOUBLES: The Mets collected three doubles yesterday...New York ranks second in the majors in doubles with 209...Boston is first (229)...Daniel Murphy and David Wright are tied for fourth in the majors with 32 doubles.
RISP: The Mets were 6-13 with runners in scoring position yesterday... Over their previous 16 games, the club hit .196 (28-143) with runners in scoring position...New York is hitting .264 with RISP on the season, ranking 11th in the majors...The Mets are hitting .277 with runners in scoring position and two outs, the highest average in the majors.
IN THE FIELD: Over the last month, dating back to July 3, the Mets have made 12 errors, the ninth-fewest in the majors...New York has a .987 fielding percentage, the 10th-best fielding mark over that period ...Overall, the Mets have turned 79 double plays, ranking 12th in the National League...New York has hit into 76 double plays, tied for the seventh-most in the NL.
LAST START: Received his National League-leading 14th win in the Mets’ 5-1 victory at Arizona on July 29 …Pitched 7.0 innings, allowing one run, no earned, and four hits...Walked three and struck out eight...This snapped a four-start streak in which Dickey had allowed eight or more hits in four consecutive starts, his longest streak since 2004...Last season, Dickey recorded his second loss on April 14 vs. Colorado, his third start of the year...Dickey now has a career-high 147 strikeouts, surpassing last year’s total of 134 in his July 24 start vs. Washington.
BACK ON TRACK: Dickey surrendered four hits in 7.0 innings his last start, the ninth time this season he has allowed four hits or less in a start of 6.0 innings or more...This is the second best total in the majors this season, trailing only Gio Gonzalez (Was) who has compiled 11 such starts...Dickey also struck out eight in his last start, the first time he has struck out eight or more since he fanned 10 at Los Angeles on June 29...Dickey now has nine starts in which he has struck out eight or more this season, good for second in the majors...Stephen Strasburg (Was) and Max Scherzer (Det) each have 10 such starts.
RANKS: After his last start, Dickey became the first pitcher in the NL to reach 14 wins this season...He is tied for the NL lead in wins with Johnny Cueto (Cin) and is tied for the Major League lead with Cueto, David Price (TB), and Jered Weaver (LAA)...Has five double-digit strikeout games this season, which is tied for second in the majors with James Shields (TB) behind Yu Darvish (Tex), who has six...Also has recorded 16 quality starts, tied for fifth in the majors...Has struck out 147 in 146.1 innings this season, tying him for fifth in the majors and tying him for second in the NL...His K/BB ratio of 4.45 ranks ninth in the majors and seventh in the NL...Has limited opposing right-handed batters to a .210 (58-286) batting average this season, good for 14th in the majors and 10th in the NL.
PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Dickey was named the NL Pitcher of the Month for the month of June...Went 5-0 with 0.93 ERA (five earned runs/48.1 innings pitched)...Began the month with 37 consecutive innings without surrendering an earned run dating from June 2 vs. StL to June 24 vs. NYY...Threw three complete games and two shutouts...Also threw consecutive complete-game 1-hitters while striking out 10 or more in each.
WINNING STREAK SNAPPED: Dickey’s loss in his start vs. Washington on July 24 snapped a streak of 11 consecutive winning decisions dating to April 25 vs. Miami...The 11-game win streak was the best of his career and the third longest in Mets history...Dickey’s streak spanned 16 starts, also tied for the third longest streak of consecutive starts without a loss in Mets history...This was the first home loss for Dickey of the season and his first since falling to Washington on September 12, 2011, 3-2.
ROUGH PATCH: Following his start vs. Washington on July 24, Dickey had allowed eight or more hits in each of his previous four starts, dating back to his July 5 start vs. Philadelphia...This was the second longest streak of his career and the longest span since he allowed eight hits or more in five straight starts from May 8, 2004 to May 28, 2004 as a member of the Texas Rangers...During this span, Dickey has had starts of 10 hits allowed at Washington on July 19 and a career high-tying 11 hits allowed in his July 5 start vs. Philadelphia...These starts marked just the ninth and 10th times Dickey had allowed double-digit hits in one game in his career, spanning 125 starts.
ONE-HIT WONDER: On June 18 vs. BAL, Dickey became the 10th pitcher since 1900 to record consecutive one-hitters...Became the first pitcher in modern baseball history (since 1900) to register back-to-back complete game one-hitters with 10 strikeouts or more in both starts...It also marked the first time a pitcher had thrown back-to-back complete games while allowing one hit or less in each since Dave Steib notched two in a row for Toronto on September 24, 1988 at CLE and again on September 30, 1988 vs. BAL...The last NL pitcher to throw consecutive complete games while allowing one hit or less in each was Jim Tobin as a member of the Boston Braves on April 23, 1944 (one-hitter) vs. Philadelphia and a no-hitter on April 27, 1944 vs. Brooklyn.
CAREER-HIGH STRIKEOUTS: Dickey recorded 12 and 13 strikeouts in back-to-back starts at Tampa Bay on June 13 and again vs. Baltimore on June 18, respectively, setting a new career-high each time...He first set his career-high striking out 11 at Pittsburgh on May 22.
MORE STRIKEOUTS: Has recorded back-to-back double-digit strikeout games twice this season...Became the first Mets pitcher to have back-to-back double-digit strikeout games since Pedro Martinez struck out 10 at Philadelphia on May 9, 2006 and another 10 at Milwaukee on May 14, 2006...He is the first Met since David Cone in 1988 to have two separate back-to-back double-digit strikeout games in the same season...Dickey has six double-digit strikeout games in his career, five this year, and all with the Mets.
RELIEF: Allowed two runs in 1.0 inning of relief vs. Los Angeles on July 21 at Citi Field...This was Dickey’s first relief appearance since April 17, 2011 at Atlanta.
LAST WIN VS. SAN DIEGO: Won, 2-0, at Citi Field on May 27 of this season...Pitched 7.1 shutout innings and allowed three hits...Walked one and struck out 10.
LAST LOSS VS. SAN DIEGO: Lost, 9-5, on August 10, 2011 at Citi Field...Pitched 6.0 innings, allowing five runs, three earned, six hits, and one walk...Struck out one.
CAREER VS. SAN DIEGO: In three career games, all starts, Dickey is 1-1 with a 2.75 ERA (six earned runs/19.2 innings pitched) vs. San Diego.
KEY MATCHUPS:
- Cameron Maybin - .333 (4-12, RBI, 4 K)
- Mark Kotsay - .444 (4-9, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB)
- Everth Cabrera - .000 (0-3, 3 K)