Chipper ruins Dickey's great outing

ATLANTA -- Who else but Chipper Jones?

With R.A. Dickey going toe-to-toe with Tim Hudson for seven scoreless innings yesterday, it was Jones, the longtime Mets nemesis, who eventually smeared the knuckleballer's masterpiece on a sunny afternoon at Turner Field.

In the eighth inning, with two outs, Jones punched a 2-and-2 pitch straight past Dickey for an RBI single that sunk the Mets in a 1-0 loss to the Braves. It was only the third hit off Dickey, but the second for Jones, who also had a leadoff double in the seventh.

"You dig in there, you keep pressing on, and it comes down to one or two pitches," Dickey said. "I threw a good [knuckleball] to Chipper and he did what a Hall of Famer does -- he hit a ground ball up the middle."

Dickey (8-13) is used to hard-luck losses this season. It was his ninth loss in starts that he has given up three earned runs or fewer. It also was Dickey's 11th straight quality start, the longest active streak in the majors and the sixth-longest overall this season. He allowed three hits in 72/3 innings with four strikeouts and a career-high six walks.

The walks are to be expected with a knuckleball pitcher, but they ultimately led to his demise Saturday. In the eighth inning, Dickey walked the leadoff hitter, Jason Heyward, who was then bunted over by Jose Constanza.

Ruben Tejada made a nice diving stop to rob Michael Bourn for the second out, but after a two-out walk to Martin Prado, Jones slapped the winning hit -- a hard grounder -- back up the middle as Dickey couldn't react quickly enough to stop it.

"It was hit right off the barrel, like it was happening in slow motion," Dickey said. "I saw the break of the knuckleball and I thought, 'OK, this is good,' Then I saw the barrel impact the ball, so I saw it well. I just didn't get my glove down in time. It was to the left of my left foot. It went right under my glove."

Manager Terry Collins said he considered walking Jones to face Dan Uggla, who was 0-for-21 against Dickey, but the two previous walks that inning made him decide against that option. After Jones' single, Dickey wound up walking Uggla before Tim Byrdak replaced him.

The day after matching a season-high with 20 hits and scoring 12 runs, a franchise record at Turner Field, the Mets couldn't solve Hudson. They managed only four hits off Hudson in eight innings -- all singles -- and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Hudson had a season-best 10 strikeouts and walked just two.

Dickey, whose knuckleball made him the polar opposite of Hudson, was equally as dominant. He allowed only three hits -- Prado's one-out single in the first inning and Jones' two hits.