Atlanta Faces Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey

After being shut out on Wednesday night by the Toronto Blue Jays, the Atlanta Braves look to rebound against the knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. The final game of a four game (two games in Toronto and two games in Atlanta) series will be played at Turner Field on Thursday night as the Braves look to battle against the 2012 NL Cy Young award winner.

May 25, 2013; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher R.A. Dickey (43) throws against the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning at the Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Dickey, who brings a 4-6 record, 4.85 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP, hasn’t been the same pitcher as he was in 2012. He has walked 31 hitters in 68.2 innings and giving up 62 hits in that span as well. Against RHB he has a .252 batting average against with a 2.45 SO/BB. Versus LHB R.A. has a .227 batting average against and a 1.50 SO/BB.

You can’t really blame his early season struggles on the Canadian air because he doesn’t have great numbers away from Toronto either. As he dominating last season, could he just be a one hit wonder?

Dickey’s knuckleball doesn’t seem like it has the same bite as it did last season. Thought through his country wide fame and success last season, the Braves actually hit R.A. well. Atlanta faced him on three different occasions last year, two early season games in April and a game in mid-July. All three times, ATL put runners on the scoreboard. The first time they saw Dickey was April 7th and the Braves got two runs off five hits (Dickey got the W in this game). But after that the Braves must of studied the film because the next time on April 18th, Atlanta put eight runs off three home runs to win that game 14-6. On July 14th, the Braves again tagged Dickey with five runs off eight hits and he only lasted 5 innings for Atlanta to pick up another victory.

Most are giving B.J. Upton the death stare so far this year but take a look at his numbers against Dickey…only faced him eight times but lets give him some hope of success!!

Andrelton Simmons and Evan Gattis (of course being a rookie) have never faced R.A. Dickey’s knuckleball…so let’s throw them both out there and see what they can do. Especially Gattis as he goes up hacking and has proven can hit mostly anything thrown at him.

Dan Uggla scares me here with 31 at bats and only one hit off Dickey…maybe Ramiro Pena should get the start today at 2nd base.

Take a look at other Braves stats against Dickey, let’s hope tonight we can crush the knuckleball!!