Mets Game 71: Win Over Tigers

Mets 5 Tigers 0

The hometown advantage continues … as does the “R.A. Dickey Story” …

Game Notes

R.A. Dickey tossed 8 shutout innings, allowing only 4 hits, 2 walks, and striking out 4. This Hollywood story is showing no signs of ending anytime soon. He is the first pitcher in history to start his Mets career with 6 straight wins. Thank goodness John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Jon Niese all got injured at the same time and Dillon Gee crapped the bed in Buffalo or this guy would still be toiling in AAA.

Message to MLB: Jose Reyes is back. Jose went 3-for-4, including a leadoff triple and a solo homer, in scoring 3 runs. His defense has also stepped up the last few weeks.

Ike Davis had two singles and drove in two runs.

Ruben Tejada extended his hitting streak to 7 games, and is now hitting .255. No way you can trade away this guy for some rental like Cliff Lee.

Angel Pagan’s 10-game hitting streak came to an end, but more importantly, he left the game with an injury to his midsection / torso. Not good. The exact injury was not disclosed as of 9:45 PM after the game, but let’s hope it’s a minor tweak and not something major involving his back or oblique. In possibly related news, Cory Sullivan has been DFA’d by the Astros.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Tigers meet for the final time at 7:10 PM on Thursday night. Hisanori Takahashi faces Armando Galarraga.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
  1. Nick June 24, 2010 at 2:04 am
    "Ruben Tejada extended his hitting streak to 7 games, and is now hitting .255. No way you can trade away this guy for some rental like Cliff Lee. "

    Joe is that your classic sarcasm there, or you really wouldn't do it?

  2. gary s. June 24, 2010 at 4:07 am
    big loss if pagan is out for any significant time..the imbecile manager says it's nothing and he will miss one game.that means he'll probably be out for a month.btw, it's amazing how much better the team is without maine, perez and castillo.i love tejada's glove at second and his range.as an added plus, he can actually hit balls that land in the outfield on the fly.what a pleasure not to have to watch castillo anymore.i pray he never comes back to the mets.
  3. wohjr June 24, 2010 at 6:39 am
    why do they keep bringing in lefties to face davis? Don't they know Ike grinds their bones to make his bread?!!!!!
  4. isuzudude June 24, 2010 at 1:22 pm
    i think you're being too harsh, gary. imagine if the 2009 version of Castillo were playing on this team. how much of a lead would we have on the rest of the division, do you think? obviously I don't want him to come back and continue hitting .240 with no extra-base hit ability, but I'd certainly want the .300+ hitting, on-base machine from just a year ago. you honestly can't tell us that you'd rather a tejada/cora platoon than the 2009 version of Castillo, can you?
  5. isuzudude June 24, 2010 at 1:27 pm
    5-0 against the AL Central. Winners of 12 of their last 13 at home. Half game out of first place. The beat goes on.

    How enjoyable was the Jerry Seinfeld visit? The only times I usually laugh during a telecast are when Keith starts falling asleep. Jerry had me in stitches at various times last night, which was just the cherry on top of another enjoyable Mets' victory.

  6. MikeTomaselli June 24, 2010 at 2:17 pm
    Agreed. I like Tejada a lot, but there is no way he is untouchable. There is also no way I don't give the job back to a healthy Castillo… well except if Pelfrey is pitching. Tejada, a natural shortstop, has way more range than even a healthy Castillo. Castillo's high OBP is his asset to this team. Tejada just is not that player right now.