MLB gives Dickey's stats an upgrade
ATLANTA -- R.A. Dickey lowered his ERA before even throwing a pitch in Thursday night's start against the Braves at Turner Field. That's because Dickey was the beneficiary of a scoring change by Major League Baseball, which ruled that Andrew McCutchen's two-run double Saturday actually was an error by third baseman Daniel Murphy.
That decision wiped away two earned runs for Dickey, whose ERA dropped from 3.98 to 3.76 with the adjustment. The Mets filed the official complaint after Saturday's game, and Murphy said he deserved an error for his awkward attempt to backhand the ground ball off his leg.
No rest for Reyes
Terry Collins said he doesn't expect to give Jose Reyes any additional rest before the All-Star break despite the high-energy shortstop having played in 66 of 69 games.
Reyes missed his only three games because of bereavement leave (May 30-June 1) after the death of his grandmother. When asked if that was enough of a break, the smiling Collins replied, "What the hell you want -- eggs in your beer?"
While the manager wasn't fully able to explain what that meant, he apparently was trying to convey that he really wants Reyes to remain in the lineup as much as humanly possible. But with the expectation that Reyes will play in the All-Star Game, fatigue eventually could become an issue.
"If he's not playing during the All-Star break, there might be an investigation," Collins said. "He's not going to get the days off that other guys are going to have, so there's a time right there where he might grab a day in that spot, because that's a long haul in the middle of July."
The Mets play 20 straight days after their four-day All-Star break, but there's also a question if Reyes -- or a few other teammates -- could be elsewhere by then.
Homecoming for Kazmir?
General manager Sandy Alderson has pledged to look into the "possibility" of signing the recently released Scott Kazmir, but the numbers haven't been very encouraging for the Mets' former first-round pick.
Kazmir was 0-5 with a 17.02 ERA in five starts for Triple-A Salt Lake. He allowed 22 hits and 20 walks in 151/3 innings with 14 strikeouts. Kazmir is owed $12 million this season -- the last of his three-year, $28.5-million contract -- but the Angels are on the hook for that.
Sound familiar? Despite the Mets' lack of pitching depth in the minors, Kazmir might be little more than a nostalgia signing. He was the team's first-round draft pick in 2002 before being traded to the Rays for Victor Zambrano in the infamous deadline deal two years later.
