Dickey searching for answers
“It was going pretty good prior to the All-Star break but I’ve run into a bit of adversity these last three starts,” said Dickey. “There are some good things to take out of it to try to apply to the next outing but sometimes you’ve got to be like a robot in these situations and keep going forward. You’ve just got to have a shortterm memory and keep going.”
The home runs, especially, have Dickey scratching his head to find an answer.
“I wish I had one,” he said. “That’s been something of an anomaly for me. Well, maybe not because I’ve been giving up, consistently, multiple home runs in multiple games. In looking back at tape, sometimes they’re hitting good pitches, like the one that Wallace hit out today. It was a good one that knuckled down late and he dug it out to hit a wallscraper out. I don’t have a reason. So you’ve got to keep pressing forward. One will come out of your hand and won’t do much and the next one will be like the best one you’ve ever thrown.
The Blue Jays offence, so potent over the last six weeks, was largely absent save for a short-lived threerun, two out rally in the sixth inning. Still, the Jays come out of this threegame set with San Diego with a series win and now face a day off before taking on division-rival Baltimore in a three-game set at Rogers Centre this weekend.
In the third inning of his previous start, against Seattle, Dickey gave up a single, hit two batters, then served up a grand slam to Nelson Cruz to send them on the Mariners on their way to a 14-5 victory. Wednesday, in the third inning, he hit No. 8 hitter Brett Wallace, then served up a tworun homer to Adam Rosales to give San Diego a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, the Blue Jays’ uncharacteristic sloppiness in the field cost them two more unearned runs. After Dickey got two quick outs, he walked Ryan Schimpf. Christian Betancourt then drilled a line drive into the right-centre gap that Kevin Pillar misplayed off the wall. That miscue allowed Schimpf to score and also let Bethancourt get to third. When relay-man Devon Travis made a poor throw to third base that eluded Josh Donaldson, Bethancourt scored easily.
“We play better than that,” said manager John Gibbons. “That’s rare for us. Sometimes when that ball is in the gap and the outfielder knows there’s a chance for three bases, it’s tough to slow yourself down to grab that thing. But that’s unusual for us.”
In the fifth, Wallace was back at the plate and smacked his sixth homer of the season, a solo shot wall-scraper in right to make it a 5-0 ballgame.
The Jays got one back in their half of the fifth, taking advantage of a leadoff walk that Perdomo issued to Travis. He moved up on a wild pitch, went to third on a ground ball to second by Ezequiel Carrera, then scored on Barney’s sacrifice fly to left.
The Padres seemingly put the game on ice with two more runs in thesixthinning,chasingDickeyfrom the mound in the process. This third two-run rally of the game started with a leadoff walk to Matt Kemp. Two outs later, Bethancourt’s double down the right field line scored Kemp and ended Dickey’s outing. Joe Biagini walked Alexei Ramirez, then allowed a flared RBI single into short left-centre to make it 7-1.
“I’m pleased with the way I feel but I’m not pleased with the inconsistency I feel in my mechanic and that’s something I’m going to try to work on before my next start,” said Dickey. “The more consistent my mechanic is, the more I can attack that strike zone with a very good knuckleball. I haven’t done it in a complete game for a while.
“I need to get back, foundationally, to a consistent mechanic where I can produce a consistent knuckleball throughout the course of a game,” said Dickey. “If I’m doing that, I’m going to run off five or six in a row that are going to be pretty good.”