Eventful day for Dickey
R.A. Dickey pitches during a game against the Miami Marlins. (May 12, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
MIAMI -- Along with everything else, R.A. Dickey managed to do a little pitching, too.
It was not his best, but it was good enough to improve his record to 5-1 and get credit for the Mets' 9-3 win over the Marlins Saturday. The best part of his day was that he felt healthy enough to exchange handshakes afterward.
As part of his eventful day at the plate, he was hit on his pitching wrist by a pitch from Ricky Nolasco in the fifth inning. Dickey doubled over in pain right away, which was enough to make the Mets quite nervous. But he was able to head down to first and pitch another inning before the throbbing caused him to leave.
"You don't know until the initial sting of it dissipates how bad it may really be,'' he said. "I was thankful he hit the meatier part of the wrist. I got feeling back into my hand pretty quickly."
He will see how it feels Sunday, but he did not plan to get the wrist X-rayed. "I don't feel like I need one," he said.
His day was unusual enough without a trip to the doctor. He singled in the second and dropped a solid sacrifice bunt in the fourth to extend a rally (which was a story in itself, inasmuch as Andres Torres appeared to make the final out but was awarded first on catcher's interference, allowing Kirk Nieuwenhuis to drive home a run with a single).
Before that, Dickey tagged out Giancarlo Stanton at third base at the end of a rundown, blunting a second-inning rally by the Marlins.
The hit-by-pitch occurred with the bases loaded, producing the first of three runs in a fifth inning that broke the game open.
"Collectively, I thought it was pretty good," Dickey said, taking inventory of his afternoon. "I got a base hit, I moved runners over, I got an RBI. As far as the knuckleball goes, it was a real fight today. I threw a lot of tumbleweeds up there, balls that were kind of over-rotating on me. I didn't have my swing-and-miss knuckleball, but they were hitting it for ground balls in a couple bigger situations and I was able to make a big pitch occasionally when I needed it."
He also proved he could take a pitch, and a hit, when he needed that.
