Those Mets

METS TAKE A SERIES THEY NEEDED

DESPERATELY TRYING TO STAY IN RACE, NEW YORK TAKES 2 OF 3 FROM CARDINALS BEHIND DICKEY'S GEM

The Mets have said all year that their goal is to win the National League East. But in the last month they have harnessed a shorter-term aspiration: to win a series. Before Thursday, the last time that had happened was late June, when the Mets won two of three against Minnesota. They failed to win their next seven series, losing six and splitting one. But in a second half that has so far been marked by nonstop malaise, the Mets found a rare positive on Thursday when they beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-0, to win the decisive game of their three-game series at Citi Field. As he has been so many times this season, R. A. Dickey (7-4) was a steadying force on the mound. He pitched into the ninth inning in what was his longest outing of the year. Meanwhile, Ike Davis broke a scoreless tie in the third inning with a three-run home run to center field, and the Cardinals never mustered any semblance of a comeback against Dickey’s knuckleballs. The win was critical on a number of fronts. It came in a situation that the Mets have typically struggled — they had lost 9 of 12 rubber games this season before Thursday — and it kept them from dropping to .500 on the season. The Mets have been above .500 since June 4. But since reaching a season-best 11 games over .500 on June 27, they have lost 18 of 26 games. But this week’s series against the Cardinals, who came into Thursday tied with Cincinnati for first place in the National League Central, marked a bright spot — or at least a bright spot relative to the three series on the Mets’ catastrophic 11-game West Coast trip following the All-Star break. If nothing else, the Mets could use the third inning Thursday as a case study for why not all hope is lost with the personnel they have in the clubhouse — even if they have been playing lately like a team that could use a trading-deadline acquisition or two. Jose Reyes, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games, doubled down the first-base line to lead off the inning, and he advanced to third when Angel Pagan beat out a bunt that he pushed past the pitcher’s mound in the direction of the second baseman. Davis wasted no time scoring them. He swung at the first pitch from the right-hander Blake Hawksworth (4-7) and drove it over the center-field fence for his 15th home run of the season, second most among major league rookies. With Dickey on the mound, the Mets did not need any further offense (though they added one more run in the fifth when Pagan tripled and Carlos Beltran scored him with a single). The right-handed Dickey, who was working off three days’ rest, pitched five and two-thirds scoreless innings on Sunday before being removed from the game, against his wishes, after slipping on the mound and favoring his leg. In eight and a third innings on Thursday, he allowed no runs on four hits and two walks, striking out two. The win was Dickey’s first since June 23; with little run support, he had lost his last four decisions, though he could hardly be blamed for most of them. Dickey received loud applause when Manager Jerry Manuel allowed him to hit with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth inning, despite having thrown 104 pitches. (He grounded into a fielder’s choice.) But Dickey got into trouble in the ninth, allowing a pinch-hit single to Colby Rasmus and walking Jon Jay. That put the tying run on deck, and Manuel emerged from the Mets’ dugout to remove Dickey. Manuel was booed loudly as he walked toward the mound; Dickey, for his part, got a standing ovation when he walked from it. But Manuel’s decision paid off, strategically, if not emotionally. Francisco Rodriguez retired Albert Pujols on a flyout, then struck out Matt Holliday to secure a much-needed win for the Mets. (NY Times) Report from Mets.com reads as such: Turns out R.A. Dickey was just fine. Pitching on short rest after leaving Sunday's game early due to injury, Dickey fired 8 1/3 scoreless innings Thursday in a 4-0 victory over the Cardinals at Citi Field. It marked the Mets' first series win since taking two of three from the Twins back in June. Four days after begrudgingly leaving Sunday's start in Los Angeles with a sore left glute, Dickey held the Cards silent. After Jon Jay doubled with one out in the first, no other St. Louis hitter reached scoring position until Skip Schumaker with two outs in the eighth. Dickey allowed just four hits, striking out two and walking two. He won for the first time since June 23 despite posting a 1.89 ERA over his previous five starts. Ike Davis provided all the offense the Mets would need in the third, launching a three-run homer to center field off Cardinals starter Blake Hawksworth. Carlos Beltran added an RBI single in the sixth off Hawksworth, who allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings.