Wright avenges brushback with tremendous home run

David Wright, tired of dodging fastballs around his head all season, unloaded six months' worth of frustration on Tyler Clippard during the seventh inning of yesterday's 7-2 win over the Nationals.

Earlier in the game, Washington starter Yunesky Maya had thrown behind Wright, and in the seventh, Clippard knocked him backward with a fastball at his neck. On the next pitch, Wright crushed a booming three-run homer that caromed off the second-deck façade in leftfield.

It was one of the longest homers Wright has hit at Citi Field, and he took his time getting around the bases, an obvious message to Clippard.

"You understand that pitching in is part of the game," Wright said. "But you get a ball thrown behind you, you get one under your chin, so you try to go in there and of course you want to do some damage. You want to go in there and punish a guy for trying to pitch you in that way."

That's been the plan of attack against Wright since he suffered a concussion last season when the Giants' Matt Cain drilled him in the head. As a result, Wright has had difficulty with pitches away, but he's worked to combat the problem, and Wright obviously had a breakthrough Saturday with his 29th home run.

Dickey in relief

Jerry Manuel surprisingly used R.A. Dickey for setup duty after he pitched in Thursday's doubleheader. The knuckleballer pitched a perfect eighth, and Manuel suggested that he might even use him again in today's finale to get another ovation from the Citi Field fans.

"If I had my druthers, that was an ovation enough," Dickey said. "But if that's what's needed to protect a guy out there, if it's a case where I can protect those guys, that's something too. I don't know. We'll see what happens."

While the crowd loved Dickey, it was another slap at Oliver Perez, who has pitched in only two of the Mets' last 57 games.

"I get surprised, but that's not my decision," Perez said. "In the situation we are right now, I think that's understandable."