NEW YORK – R.A. Dickey was greeted warmly by Mets fans when the Braves played at Citi Field on opening day, and why wouldn’t he be?
Dickey won the Cy Young Award after a 20-win season with the Mets in 2012, then was the centerpiece of a trade to the Blue Jays that brought a pitching prospect named Noah Syndergaard to the Mets along with then-top catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud and others.
The aging knuckleballer went from scrap-heap minor-league free agent signee to Cy Young winner in a three-year span with the Mets, and then brought them a pitcher, Syndergaard, who three years later as a rookie in 2015 emerged as one of the top young power pitchers in baseball.
On Thursday, Dickey will pitch at Citi Field for the first time since he was traded to Toronto and, as fate would have it, he’ll face Syndergaard.
“I understand where I am and I understand that’s a story for a lot of people, but for me it’s kind of just a byproduct of something that happened once,” Dickey said Thursday, answering a New York reporter’s question about the matchup with Syndergaard as few athletes other than Dickey might answer it. “I’m much more concerned with turning in a quality outing. But as far as me vs. him because of the trade, and who’s going to win that, that’s something for you guys to build up.”
He added, “I’ve always loved pitching here. This has been a good place for me traditionally.”
Dickey, at 42, is the second-oldest pitcher in the majors behind Braves teammate (and fellow former Met) Bartolo Colon. After making $12 million each of the past three seasons to complete a four-year extension he agreed to with the Blue Jays to facilitate the trade, Dickey signed a one-year deal with the Braves in November that included a $7.5 million salary this season and an $8 million option team option for 2018 with a $500,000 buyout.
He’s 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA in three starts for the Braves and given up 19 hits (three homers) and seven walks with 13 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings. He’s pitched well, for the most part.
Now Dickey, who didn’t pitch in the season-opening series against the Mets, will face them for the first time since a 2015 win at Toronto, when he gave up just one run on three hits and five walks in 7 1/3 innings. He has pitched quite well at Citi Field, posting a 19-15 record and 2.77 ERA in 47 games (45 starts) at the Queens ballpark, his second-best ERA anywhere he’s made more than five starts.
“This place is responsible for helping me resurrect my career, as well as having a very special season in ’12,” said Dickey, who went 39-28 with a 2.95 ERA in three seasons with the Mets, including 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA in that 2012 season, when he led the National League in strikeouts (230) and innings (233 2/3) in his age-37 season.
“So when I look back on that, I see an organization with which I was able to do a lot of things I’d always dreamed about doing, and that gives you a special place in your heart for an organization. Not to mention the people I got to interact with and the teammates I’m still friends with over there. So, on a lot of different levels, this place will forever be impressed upon my heart and my journey.”
The feeling was mutual if the reception he got at Citi Field on opening day was any indication.
“It was really nice,” Dickey said of the ovation he got that day. “When you share a season like I did in 2012 on a team that — we weren’t competing really at the end, it gave everybody something to look forward to, including myself. And so to be able to kind of share that connection with those guys. … The New York fan base has always treated me so great, and I’ve always appreciated that. So yeah, it was nice.”
