Tonight I Anticipate Something Special

I don’t care what you are doing tonight, cancel it and get down to Tropical Field. On tap tonight should be a classic pitcher’s match-up between two completely different style of starters who could put on a nice pitching clinic tonight that could be the eventual precursor to either of them getting a possible shot to hit the dirt first at this season’s All Star Game in Kansas City.

If a total of 17 combined wins between New York Mets hurler R A Dickey and Tampa Bay Rays southpaw starter David Price can not get you excited about this contest, you had better go have your pulse checked, because you might be dead. On tap tonight could be the premier InterLeague pitching match-up of not only this week, but the entire InterLeague sliver of the 2012 season, and it all will be played out under the tilted cap in St. Petersburg.

If that is not enough to make you pile into the jalopy and putter on down to 1 Tropicana Drive, in town for this limited engagement is a team that used to hold their annual Spring Training locally here in the ‘Burg, and is making their first trek into their old Spring home turf in 11 years. Member when the Mets used to come here every Spring from 1962 to1987 holding court over in the fields near the Jungle Prada section of the city.

I mean personally, I’m totally curious to see what a “hard knuckleball” looks like coming in at possibly 80 mph in comparison to the butterfly slow velocity knuckler thrown by former Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield. I am truly eager to see not only how Dickey can adjust and pitch against this struggling Rays offense, but will keep a keen eye on the Mets catcher to see just how you can keep that fluttering white sphere in your glove. Looking at the opposite side of the spectrum, it should be another chance for Price to again show some of his tricks of the trade via a blazing fastball combined with a newly refined curve and change-up to keep the Mets bats honest.

Surely this contest is billed as a “pitcher’s duel” with the unique possibility of a 1-0 or 2-1 score deciding this contest. But do not forget, these two hurlers have also posted 148 K’s and each sports an impressive ERAs between 2.40 (Price) and 2.44 (Dickey) this season. They also both have held opposing batters to stellar opposition batting average that are just a tick South of .236 mark and both have 1 shutout and complete game to their credit this season.

Heck, the only blip on either pitcher’s radar to show any weakness might be the fact Price only went 5 innings in his last start against the Yankees in New York. You would have to dig all the way back to Price’s start on April 13^th in Boston to find any sub 5 inning start by the consistent southpaws this season. Dickey also suffered his only sub 5 inning stint about the same time this season when he only lasted 4.2 innings on April 18^th in a contest in Atlanta against the Braves. Both have been consistent in going into the late innings of games, with powerful pitches at their disposal.

Tonight it is a mano-on-mano match-up. Classic hard-nose power pitching against the crafty and frustrating ball that can come in hard, or flutter like a firefly under the dome’s lights. If you like the Chess match that can turn into a baseball game, this is the game for you. So, why aren’t you here already? This game has all the earmarks of possibly turning into an instant classic 2012 baseball moment.

I’ll save you a seat.