MIAMI — From road kill to road warriors?
Along the Mets’ highway to hell last season, they didn’t win a road series until June and not against a National League opponent until beating a Triple-A team — the Pirates — twice over three games in August. The final breakdown showed the Mets 47-34 at home, but a dreadful 32-49 on the road.
Yesterday, the Mets dropped a hint road demons might not be such an issue in 2011. Their opening-night clunker against Josh Johnson was a distant memory after pounding the Marlins 9-2 at Sun Life Stadium, giving the Mets two victories in three games to start the season.
“Last year we went on the road and everybody started to make a big deal out of [losing],” R.A. Dickey said. “I think we started to buy into it.”
The Mets pummeled Yankees reject Javier Vazquez, scoring seven runs over 2 1/3 innings against the righty before cruising to the finish behind Dickey’s knuckleball. The victory provided the Mets with needed momentum heading into Philadelphia for three games beginning tomorrow.
Dickey had the second straight superb start by a Mets pitcher, limiting the Marlins to one unearned run over six innings a day after Jon Niese shined. Dickey allowed five hits and struck out seven with three walks before manager Terry Collins emptied his bullpen to get work for the relievers.
“Especially after the [Florida] pitching we saw the first night, hopefully this is what this team is going to be made of, that they can rally back and hang on,” Collins said. “R.A. gave us a great start today, which you’ve got to have. It was a good game for us.”
Willie Harris’ two-run home run in the first inning capped a big weekend for the backup outfielder. It was Harris who ended Johnson’s no-hit bid with a double leading off the seventh inning on Friday. A night later, Harris smashed a two-run double in the 10th inning of the Mets’ 6-4 victory.
Ike Davis hit a solo homer yesterday as part of a four-run third inning for the Mets. Daniel Murphy’s double brought home another run before two more scored on a ball thrown away at the plate by third baseman Emilio Bonifacio.
“It’s just great to get a series win on the road, because last year we struggled with that,” Davis said. “We’re trying to improve on everything, and so far, so good. Josh Johnson pitched a heck of a game and we came out the next two days and made up for it.”
The Mets led 7-0 in the third inning before the Marlins got a run with some help by a Dickey wild pitch and Josh Thole passed ball.
“Giving Dickey a lead, it’s hard to score a lot of runs off Dickey, especially with the way the knuckleball was moving,” Davis said. “You put seven on the board and it’s kind of hard. We jumped on them early and then let Dickey finish it out.”
Dickey said he was challenged by a swirling wind on the field that wasn’t present during his bullpen session. He still made the necessary adjustments to handle a Marlins lineup that was without slugger Mike Stanton (hamstring) for the second straight game.
“There are a lot of good things going on,” Dickey said. “After the first game you didn’t see anybody hang their head, you just came to work the next day. It’s a real professional environment here. I think that’s going to be good.”
