The Art Of The E And The K

I'm fully aware that the Mets pretty much won Tuesday's game because the Pirates defense failed them more than the Mets defense failed them in that eighth inning (Pittsburgh is looking squarely at you, Pedro Alvarez). And I also understand that the Pirates had just come off a three game series where they struck out a major league record 2,396,548 times against Detroit Tiger pitching. So what's 13 more, right?

But that Robert Alan Dickey. He's a bad, bad man. He had a career high 11 K's in seven innings and just 88 pitches, many of which were knuckleballs that fluttered like the wings of an angel (not Angel Pagan.)

"I was more impressed by the fact that in the seven innings he pitched, two balls hit the dirt. His numbers coming in were real. It was real last year. He competes and he made pitches." -Clint Hurdle

"He was working both sides. The one he was able to repeat tonight and get a lot of swings and misses on was that one that is kind of flat and kind of explodes up at the end. That's tough to catch... If he can command that one, he's going to get a lot of strikeouts." -Mike Nickeas

Also, if he can face the Pirates every fifth day, he's going to get a lot of strikeouts.

The Mets really haven't had to win a game this year without production from David Wright, who went 0-for-4 on Tuesday. On most days they wouldn't have had a prayer. But between Pittsburgh's defensive follies (and I thought the Penguins had the worst defense in Pittsburgh), Frangag Frantsisk refusing to gag (or Sisk) in the ninth inning, and the guy who names his vehicle after the Millennium Falcon, the Mets' prayers were answered for one evening. Question now is this: Do deities take off for day games after night games? Let's hope not, because Jon Niese is pitching later today. And considering what he did in Toronto, he could use a little divine intervention.