Is R.A. Dickey your Cy Young favorite?

June 19, 2012

Jun

We so love the knuckleball. It's simultaneously the dumbest and smartest pitch in baseball -- you've got no idea where it will go when you release it, and it's practically impossible to teach, but it changes the whole game from baseball to kind of a weird hybrid of slow-pitch softball and misery. R.A. Dickey took a while to master his knuckler, but it has paid dividends this season, as he threw his second one-hitter in a row Monday night against the Orioles. Dickey leads all of baseball in wins, ERA and strikeouts, which is totally insane and also really awesome. Has he made himself into a perennial ace, or is this just a temporary run of dominance?

A new ace?

You don't usually come into your own as a pitcher in your mid-30s, but Dickey has had a 2.86 ERA since his age-35 season.

Difficult feat?

Only 22 men have thrown a perfect game in baseball history, but only 10 have thrown consecutive one-hitters. It's a bit of a fluky accomplishment but still incredibly rare.

Are the Mets for real?

The Mets have been a bit of a joke the past few years, but they've had their share of stellar performances this season.

Comment »

You must be signed in to post a comment

You are fully responsible for the content you post. Content that includes profanity, personal attacks or antisocial behavior (such as "spamming" or "trolling"), or other inappropriate content or material will be removed. We reserve the right to block any user who violates our terms of use, including removing all content posted by that user.