You Can't Spell "Dickey" Without a "C" and a "Y"

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner, R.A. Dickey!

DICKEY DONE DID IT!!

For the first time since 1985, a New York Mets pitcher has won the National League Cy Young Award, as R.A. Dickey was just bestowed the highest honor at his position, earning 209 votes (27 first place votes) to beat out last year’s winner, Clayton Kershaw (96 votes, two first place votes) and Gio Gonzalez (93 votes, one first place vote).  Not since Dwight Gooden over a quarter century ago had a Mets pitcher taken home the coveted hardware.  Dickey is also the third Met in team history to receive the Cy Young Award, joining the aforementioned Gooden and “The Franchise” himself, Tom Seaver, who won the award in 1969, 1973 and 1975.

Dickey was at or near the top in mostly every major pitching category.  He led the league in innings pitched (233⅔), strikeouts (230), complete games (5), shutouts (3), quality starts (27) and New York Times best-sellers (1).  The knuckleball artist also finished near the league lead in wins (20, 2^nd in NL), ERA (2.73, 2^nd in NL) and WHIP (1.053, 3^rd in NL), while establishing a franchise mark by being credited with 27.0% of his team’s victories (Dickey won 20 games for the 74-88 Mets, surpassing Seaver’s 26.8% mark from 1975 when Tom Terrific won 22 games for a team that finished 82-80).

Prior to winning the Cy Young Award, Dickey was mostly known as the guy who gave yours truly permission to write the semi-regular Dickeypedia Word of the Week feature.  Now he’s known for so much more, and deservedly so.

The Studious Metsimus staff would like to congratulate R.A. Dickey on becoming the first knuckleball pitcher to win the National League Cy Young Award, an honor that had eluded a Mets pitcher for 27 years.  It couldn’t have gone to a better candidate or a better person. 

Cy Young Award Finalists To Be Announced Tonight

Photo by Barton Silverman/New York Times

Just a quick reminder to let you know that the MLB Network will be announcing the three finalists for the Cy Young Award in each league tonight on a special broadcast at 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.  Candidates for the National League Cy Young Award include Gio Gonzalez, Matt Cain, Clayton Kershaw, Craig Kimbrel and the man who was better than all of them, R.A. Dickey.

The show will also reveal the three finalists for each league's Rookie of the Year Award and Manager of the Year Award, as well as five finalists for the American League and National League MVP Awards.  No Mets player or manager is expected to be a finalist in any of those categories, although former Mets manager Davey Johnson is a strong contender for the National League Manager of the Year Award.

So if you're all pooped out from the election coverage (and you know the six o'clock news will only be talking about that and perhaps the nor'easter headed up the Eastern seaboard), why not check out MLB Network at 6:00 PM to see if R.A. Dickey is among the three finalists for the NL Cy Young Award?

Let's just hope that when Dickey does win the coveted hardware (to be announced on Wednesday, November 14, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel), he doesn't have Lucas Duda accept the award for him.  I'm sure the Dickey family would like to receive the award in one piece.

R.A. Dickey vs. Gio Gonzalez: Stats You Didn't Know

R.A. Dickey.  Gio Gonzalez.  Both pitchers are gunning for the Cy Young Award.  Only one will get it (assuming we don't have a tie a la the 1979 NL MVP vote that got Keith Hernandez a co-MVP Award).

You can go to any site and find comparisons between the two.  Anyone will tell you that Gonzalez leads Dickey by one win and that Dickey leads Gonzalez in innings pitched, strikeouts, ERA, WHIP, shutouts and complete games.  But what about the stats you didn't know that should swing the Cy Young vote completely over to Dickey?

Here are those stats.  Once you read them, you'll have no doubt that R.A. Dickey should claim the top prize as the best pitcher in the National League.

R.A. Dickey is a knuckleball pitcher, but is only averaging 1.7 walks per start.  Only five pitchers in the National League (Edinson Volquez, Tim Lincecum, Aaron Harang, Yovani Gallardo, Carlos Zambrano) have walked more batters than Gio Gonzalez.

Despite not possessing a 90-mph fastball, R.A. Dickey has allowed only three stolen bases in six attempts.  Meanwhile, opposing base runners have a 92% success rate against Gio Gonzalez, going 11-for-12 against the Nationals' ace.

Gio Gonzalez has been lifted from three games this year in which the Nationals did not have the lead at the time of his removal, but got credit for the win when his offense gave him the lead in the half inning immediately following his removal.  Dickey has only earned one win in this way.  If not for the Nationals' timely hitting after his removal, Gonzalez would only have 17 wins, one less than the 18 Dickey would have if not for the sole occasion the Mets bailed him out.

The Nationals have scored seven runs or more in half of Gonzalez's 20 victories.  The Mets have scored five runs or less in thirteen of Dickey's 19 wins.

Gio Gonzalez has 21 quality starts (six or more innings pitched allowing three earned runs or less) out of his 31 starts.  He has also failed to get through the sixth inning in seven starts.  Dickey has 25 quality starts and has pitched at least six innings in all but two of his 31 starts.

Finally, Gio Gonzalez has 20 wins, but he's done it for the the team with the best record in baseball.  R.A. Dickey has won one less game than Gonzalez for a team that has 24 fewer wins.  Similarly, Gonzalez has two more losses on a 59-loss team than Dickey has for an 83-loss team.

When in doubt, always vote for the guy who makes a Dickeyface when he releases a pitch.

More often that not, the MVP Award goes to a player with the most impressive numbers on a team that's at or near the top of its division.  This is not always the case for the recipient of the Cy Young Award.

Five of the last six Cy Young Award winners in the National League played for teams that failed to make the playoffs, with the sole exception being Roy Halladay in 2010.  Two of those five winners pitched for teams that finished with losing records.  (Brandon Webb won the award in 2006 for the 76-86 Diamondbacks, while Tim Lincecum earned his hardware in 2008 for a 72-90 Giants team.)

The award is not called the Most Valuable Pitcher Award.  It's called the Cy Young Award.  It's given to the best pitcher in each league.  Gio Gonzalez has had an excellent season, one that is usually worthy of the league's top pitching honor, but R.A. Dickey has been the best pitcher in the National League this year.

Let's hope the voters consider every bit of statistical information available to them before they cast their votes and don't turn the Cy Young Award into the MVP (Most Valuable Pitcher) Award.  They're more than welcome to use the statistical facts from this piece to help them make their decision.

Is R.A. Dickey An All-Star?

Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus (Yeah, that's right.  I took it.  Not bad, huh?)

On Sunday, R.A. Dickey pitched 7⅓ innings of shutout ball against the Padres, allowing three hits, walking one and striking out ten batters.  The 10-K performance gave Dickey 29 strikeouts over his last three starts (20⅓ IP).  It also helped in lowering his ERA to 3.06, a number Dickey had not seen since his sole bad start of the year in rain-soaked Atlanta on April 18.  On that day, a day in which Dickey admitted the weather conditions made it seem like he was throwing "a wet water balloon", the knuckleballer allowed eight runs in 4⅓ innings, ending his streak of consecutive quality starts at 14.

Since his damp debacle against the Braves, Dickey has been magnificent.  He has made seven consecutive quality starts, giving him 21 in his last 22 starts.  In those seven quality starts, he has a 2.09 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and opponents are batting a measly .193 against him.  The most important number in Dickey's line is the big fat zero in the loss column since April 18.  Over the past six weeks, Dickey is 5-0, helping the Mets improve to a season-high six games over .500.

For the season, Dickey is 7-1 with a 3.06 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 64⅔ innings.  His seven wins tie him with Gio Gonzalez, Cole Hamels, Lance Lynn and former Met teammate Chris Capuano for first place in the National League, as does his .875 winning percentage.  Dickey is also ninth in the NL in innings pitched and eighth in strikeouts.  He is also an excellent fielder, as evidenced by his 16 assists in ten starts.  This is nothing new, as Dickey led the league in assists by a pitcher in 2011 and was second in 2010.  He is currently third in the National League in assists by a pitcher, picking up his 16th assist on Sunday after making a beautiful diving stop to his right on a ground ball by Chase Headley.

Given all this data, the question must be asked.  Should R.A. Dickey represent the National League in the 2012 All-Star Game?

Every team must be represented by at least one player, but David Wright's scalding start has pretty much made him a lock for the All-Star team.  Therefore, Dickey would probably not be chosen because he "has to be" chosen as the Mets' sole representative.  He would have to earn his spot on the roster.

Looking at his numbers, you would think that he already has earned a spot on the roster.  Seven wins, 61 strikeouts, low ERA, low WHIP.  That just screams All-Star, right?  Not so fast.

Two years ago, Mike Pelfrey pitched seven shutout innings against the Phillies on May 27 (the same date Dickey pitched 7⅓ shutout innings against the Padres this year).  After Pelfrey's masterpiece, his record improved to (you guessed it) 7-1, the same record Dickey has on the same date Pelfrey had it in 2010.

But Pelfrey didn't fall off the face of the Earth after improving to 7-1.  In fact, on June 25, 2010, he defeated the Minnesota Twins in an interleague matchup to improve to 10-2.  He was also the proud owner of a spiffy 2.71 ERA.  Please note that June 25 was only two weeks before pitchers were to be selected for the All-Star Game by players, coaches and managers (fans do not participate in the pitcher selection process).  Pelfrey did not make the All-Star team in 2010, despite his outstanding first-half performance.

Pelfrey isn't alone in recent All-Star snubbery.  (Yes, I just made up that word.  What are you going to do, kick me off the All-Star team?)  In 2007, John Maine won his first five decisions and was 10-4 with a 2.71 ERA on July 5.  Just like Pelfrey, he also did not make the National League All-Star team.

So where does that leave Dickey?  If I had a vote, I'd give it to the Mets' resident knuckleballer.  But I don't have a vote.  And the people who do have a plethora of choices amongst pitchers.

There are currently ten pitchers in the National League with an ERA of 2.50 or less.  Dickey is still above 3.00.  Seven pitchers in the National League have a WHIP of 1.00 or less.  Dickey is just barely below 1.10 (1.098, to be exact).  And some players, such as Houston's Brett Myers (12 saves, 1.59 ERA, 0.82 WHIP), might "have to be" chosen before a player like Dickey is.  No other Astro hitter or pitcher is having an All-Star caliber season, so Myers might force his way onto the team as the sole Astros' representative, taking a roster spot away from another deserving candidate, someone like R.A. Dickey.

If R.A. Dickey is going to become a first-time All-Star in 2012, he's going to have to keep pitching the way he has since his one poor outing in Atlanta.  He'll need to get his ERA below 3.00.  He'll need to continue striking out batters.  He'll need to keep piling on the wins.  Then again, as recent history shows with Met pitchers, that doesn't guarantee anything when it comes to making the All-Star team.  To me, R.A. Dickey is an All-Star in 2012.  Let's hope the players, managers and coaches feel the same way.