Game #161: Marlins 4, Mets 3 (11)

(NYDailyNews.com)

While they finally figured him out after many a dominant start, Miami couldn't keep R.A. Dickey from closing out his season in quality style.

Dickey finished 2012 with a 6-inning quality start, while a Mets comeback was undone by Collin McHugh in the 11th, resulting in a 4-3 loss to the Marlins.

The Bad Stuff:

• New York left 10 men on base and couldn't score a run off Jacob Turner of all people until the 8th inning.
• In the 11th, Collin McHugh gave up a leadoff triple to Jose Reyes, intentionally walked the next two, got a strikeout, then surrendered the winning hit to Donovan Solano. McHugh's once-promising callup now sits in an 0-4, 7.59 ERA ruin.

The Good Stuff:

• While he wasn't at his best tonight, R.A. Dickey bowed out of his Cy Young-worth season with a quality start, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings, walking none, and striking out 8.
• His final numbers in 2012: 20-6, 2.73 ERA, 1.053 WHIP, 5 CG, 3 SH, 230 K, 233.2 innings. I'd say he's done enough.
• David Wright added his 93rd RBI of the year, going 1-4.
• Scott Hairston went 4-5 with an RBI.

Final Analysis:
While it's disappointing the Mets are ending on such a weak stretch (lost 4 in a row now), Dickey's night is the biggest story. While his ERA increased slightly, he still should be the frontrunner for the award named for a man who won 511 games in his career. And unless Clayton Kershaw does something spectacular in the next couple days, R.A. Dickey the knuckleballer will lead the National League in strikeouts. I'd say he's Winded Up in a good place this year.

On a "triumph of the human spirit" note, congratulations to Adam Greenberg, who made it back to the major leagues for an at-bat tonight after being struck on the head in his only previous at-bat, a 2005 venture with the Chicago Cubs. He may have struck out on 3 pitches from Dickey, but it's the greatest anyone's ever felt about a strikeout in a long, long time.

MM