This week’s question:
Who do you consider the ace of the pitching staff- Johan Santana or R.A. Dickey?
Here are the answers from our wonderful staff.
Connor O’Brien:
There is no question that Dickey is pitching the best right now. He’s winning the Cy Young Award race. However, if I had to chose who would pitch in a one-game playoff or game one of a playoff series, I’d go with Santana any day of the week. I’m not completely sure why, but whenever you give him the ball in a big spot (although he hasn’t been in too many in his Mets career) you just have a feeling that he’s going to come up big for you. Start to start, though, Dickey is the ace.
Kingman26:
No question that it is Dickey; no contest.
This year he not only has been a Cy Young leader but has pitched as well or better than any knuckleballer in decades if not ever.
Johan is a crafty, diminished version of his old self while Dickey is a still-evolving pitcher who may have become a true ace with the level his knuckler has reached.
I was never a fan of the knuckler until now-he throws it harder, with more motion, and for strikes at a level I have never seen.
Dickey may now be an ace; Johan is years removed from being one.
Spencer:
Dickey. He’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season period.
Bryan:
It’s absolutely Dickey. Johan is still an important part of the staff and it may be weird to think of him as the #2 guy, but that’s where we are. On several occasions Dickey has been phenomenal and looked every part of the ace. It is weird to think of a knuckleballer as an ace, but he’s not a traditional knuckler because he has several different versions of it. He’s also able to change speeds and throw strikes, two things that an ace of any staff is able to master.
Daniel Stein-Sayles:
Why can’t they have two aces? I think that’s where both are at this point, they are both pitching great. Dickey has had a better season but Santana has the track record and of course the single biggest Mets pitching performance in a while. In a big game I still want Santana out there, I have complete trust in him in a big spot. This is not to say I wouldn’t trust but I’m perfectly fine with having two aces.
TRS86:
In the words of Radio… “I’ll take both.”
Paul Festa:
Right now, it’s R.A. Dickey. Not only have I never seen a knuckleballer with the kind of pinpoint command he has, but I’ve rarely seen any pitcher with the kind of command he has now. The way he’s pitching now reminds me of they way Greg Maddux carved up the strikezone in his prime. He seems to get better with each start.
Johan Santana has been remarkable in his recovery from anterior capsule surgery. He’s struggled with his command at times this year, even during his no-hitter, but I always feel like we have a chance to win whenever he takes the hill.It’s great to have a 1-2 punch like this in the starting rotation.
5 comments
darknova306
6/17/2012-4:17pm at 4:17 pm (UTC -4)
“I was never a fan of the knuckler until now-he throws it harder, with more motion, and for strikes at a level I have never seen”
My thoughts 100%, Kong. I’ve always hated the knuckleball. The few knuckleball pitchers I’ve watched over the years have all been so Ollie-like from game to game, you really never knew how “on” their pitch would be that day. Dickey has completely demolished that mentality for me, and in amazing fashion.
gategem
6/17/2012-5:07pm at 5:07 pm (UTC -4)
I have seen some of the truly great knuckleball pitchers over the years and this year Dickey equals the very best. Right now he is clearly the ace of the staff.
Stick
6/17/2012-5:34pm at 5:34 pm (UTC -4)
Ace? Dickey. by whatever definition you want to use.
NJstuckinTX
6/17/2012-6:03pm at 6:03 pm (UTC -4)
Pitching wise, Dickey. Mentality wise, Johan.
srt
6/17/2012-9:36pm at 9:36 pm (UTC -4)
I was going to go with a 1 and 1a of Dickey and Santana, in that order. But I like your answer best of all.
If the season ended tomorrow and we somehow made it to the WS – and you could juggle your rotation any way you wanted…… who would you chooses for Game 1? Me, I’d hve to go with Johan. Not to take anything away from RA at all, but I’d have to choose The Man – the one who pitched a complete game gem with a torn miniscus to keep our post season hopes alive. The Man who worked his butt off to come back from a surgery that could have been career ending. The same man who reinvented himself to get the job done with diminishing skills and with that grit took his 134 pitch count and pitched the first no hitter for the Mets.
Love RA, think he’s locked in right now and will pitch longer than Johan. He should be a lock for the ASG and Johan not so much. But how great would it be to throw out Johan and his bag of tricks, then a knucle baller, then back to a conventional pitcher? I know, I know……but I can dream, can’t I?