R.A. Dickey says it's best to keep being himself
National League All-Star R.A. Dickey reacts in the sixth inning during the 83rd MLB All-Star Game at Kauffman Stadium. (July 10, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
WASHINGTON -- R.A. Dickey's recent poor results are not reminiscent of the white-hot hand he held through most of the first half of the season. Yet the Mets' 37-year-old righthander is determined to not change a thing.
"During the course of the 162-game season, every starter, whether it is Justin Verlander or whoever it may be, has to weather some storms and not overthink things. That's when you get in trouble," Dickey said before the Mets extended their losing streak to a season-high six games with last night's 4-3 loss to the Nationals.
Although Dickey takes a glittering 12-1 record and a 2.66 ERA into Thursday's game here against the NL East leaders, in his last two starts he has not resembled the knuckleballer who kept batters so wildly off-balance that NL manager Tony La Russa received some criticism for not naming him the All-Star Game starter.
In starting against the Phillies at home on July 5 and on the road against the Braves last Saturday, he surrendered a total of 10 earned runs on 19 hits in 12 innings with three walks and 11 strikeouts. He did not figure in either decision.
Still, Dickey keeps on keeping on.
"In my youth, I would have obsessed over it to the point where it would have taken me further out of where I needed to be," he said. "I've learned since then, whether it was through the struggles of last year or of 2010, that sometimes it's better to forget about it and keep being you."
He swept his first six decisions only to close 11-9 with a 2.84 ERA after being promoted from Triple-A Buffalo in 2010. A strong finish left him 8-13 with a 3.28 ERA last year for the Mets in his only full major-league season.
The former first-round draft choice of the Rangers in 1996 emerged as the feel-good story of the first half by yielding one earned run in a six-start span that extended from May 22 until June 24 and covered 50 2/3 innings. That dazzling stretch was punctuated by consecutive one-hitters, at the Rays on June 13 and at home against the Orioles five days later.
Terry Collins warns against making too much of Dickey's recent woes. "Two outings ago, he didn't have the command of [the knuckleball] that he did," the manager said. "The last outing he did."
Dickey lasted only five innings in Atlanta, allowing five earned runs and eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts in his briefest effort since April 18. He is 0-1 with a 12.54 ERA in two starts against the Braves this year.
"That's one team that hits him," Collins said.
As Dickey sees it, a knuckleballer's life is inevitably unpredictable. "What it is that makes it fickle is what makes it good," he said. "No other pitch on Earth moves in multiple directions. As a knuckleballer, you've got to embrace that and not be afraid of it."
