RA Dickey goes for win #19 Today against Miami
The Mets take the field at Citi Field today looking for their second straight win for only the second time in the month of September. The last time they won two in a row was the first and second days of the month. New York sends RA Dickey to the hill looking for his 19th win of the season, in addition Dickey will probably pass Clayton Kershaw today if he can get a pair of K’s to take the lead in the National League.
Miami counters Dickey with left-hander Mark Buehrle who comes off of three straight 7+ inning performances, one of which was the Mets last second consecutive win back on September second. Buehrle did strike out seven in his last outing which was one shy of his season-high of eight back on July 5th at Milwaukee.
Today’s game can be seen on PIX 11 for those of you still fortunate to have it, or if you don’t have it like me you can listen to the game on Sports Radio 66 WFAN.
Mets Lineup
TBA
-A trio of Mets have three hits against Buehrle this season including David Wright (3-for-9, 1 HR, 3 RBI), Lucas Duda (3-for-6) and Kelly Shoppach (3-for-7, 2 2B, HR, 3 RBI). For their careers Shoppach and Jason Bay have solid numbers against the fast-moving lefty because of their time in the American League together, Shoppach is 8-for-20 while Bay is 6-for-20 with six RBI.
Marlins Lineup
TBA
-Justin Ruggiano has been the biggest thorn in Dickey’s side amongst hitters in 2012 with four hits in eight at-bats with a solo home run. Giancarlo Stanton and Logan Morrison each have three hits off of Dickey this year, but both haven’t played due to injury. Dickey does have to watch out for Carlos Lee who is 9-for-29 in his career against the knuckleballer with one homer and five RBI.
Pitching Matchup
RA Dickey (18-6; 2.67 ERA) Dickey has no need to pitch for his team, this is all about Dickey now, which if you read his book it’s never about. Dickey is leading the league in ERA, and as mentioned before is one strikeout away from tying the NL lead in strikeouts with 206. He needs a ‘W’ today to keep up with Gio Gonzalez of the Nationals who already has 19.
Mark Buehrle (13-12; 3.78 ERA) Buehrle has finished the season with 13 wins for four straight years, and the Mets would like to send him to his next start stuck on 13. Buerhle has picked up wins in four of his last seven starts, with a pair of loses and a no decision mixed in as well. He is also closing in on his normal innings total of the season as he is currently 188 1/3 innings, when he maxes out between 105-118 innings over the past few years.
September 22 in Mets History
The Mets are 3-6 in their last nine games on September 22, including this winner a season ago…
2011: The Mets scored six runs in the ninth inning off of three Cardinal relievers to take an 8-6 win away from the white-hot Cardinals. Chris Capuano struggled in the start but the offense bailed him out as Ruben Tejada led the team with three RBI and #WillieHarrisFace had two of his own.
Happy Birthdays go out to Wally Backman, Bob Geren, Vince Coleman, and the legendary Chris Schwinden. That’s a lot of cake!
