Stephen Strasburg and R.A Dickey: Two contenders for 2012 All-Star Game – MLB Feature
Debate about who is going to make the 2012 All-Star Game takes on new shape as two starters stand out from the myriad herd of pitchers playing in the National League. One belongs to the Washington Nationals, Stephen Strasburg and second to the New York Mets,
R.A Dickey. Going by their current performance, even if they can replicate a fraction of their form until voting starts for the roster, they are off to glory.
The question however is: What if the dilemma stands between Strasburg and Dickey? Irrespective of how fans, manager and others weigh them and chose one, who can justify more with luminary of the day is a part of our discussion.
Ear-whistling fastballs by Strasburg give him a special place, to an extent that no other pitcher can rival him. Sending hitters down on knees and stealing enormous strike-outs have been so typical to him that a time came during the season when even a man
in the street can accurately predict as to what he is going to do with batters in his next start. A lion that moves back and forth and keeps repeating the activity without deviating an inch holds resemblance to the way Strasburg has fared in the season.
Yes, an All-Star Game should feature a pitcher who guarantees heaps of strike-outs, right at the start. The one who can become an infallible fortified against home runs should get the nod.
He fits to the criteria of a match-up of big-wigs; a battlefield featuring monsters on both ends. He can best stymie the artillery of giant hitters by putting them under fearsome pace, bursting at 98 mph.
Yet, all is not that rosy. The prospect of fatigue beyond six innings and thus a distinctive quality of a great starter to throw complete games is absent in Strasburg. That gives place to Dickey in calculations.
A rejuvenated huntsman with an uncanny formula for drawing strike-outs makes a strong case for the crown. Though he does not have powerful fastball and thus a change-up of no major concern for batters, but it does not mean that he cannot glitter the day.
For an audience that has seen hurlers who can clock in the 90s for years should have something new to watch. Traditional boundaries of baseball should expand. Baseball ethos that has so embedded in the minds of fans need a change; not the one that modifies
it but the one that adores its beauty, encouraging new dimensions.
Fans should know that there are more ways to achieve greatness than are generally perceived. A kind of stereotype that a survival without fastballs is hard should be fixed.
With the way the knuckle-ball has been employed by Dickey this year, it will be nothing but a deprival for fans, if the same are not allowed an exhibition on the day of All-Star Game.
Above all, Dickey has thrown complete games for couple of times. He became saviour at a time when rest of the starters on Mets’ rotation fell on the way side.
In contrast to Strasburg who was backed by a solid bullpen, Dickey worked with a bullpen which is always vulnerable. Withholding himself from sinking along with team-mates, he stood out while adopting a different course. Unlike Strasburg who enjoyed a luxury
of great pitching staff, Dickey was deserted and made his way through thorns. Thus, he deserves to be playing in the All-Star Game, more than Strasburg.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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