New York Mets Vs. Houston Astros: Mets, R.A. Dickey Search For Ways To Get Wins

Even against a struggling pitcher, in their home ballpark, the New York Mets could not find a way to get the all-elusive "W" in the standings. The Mets have lost six straight at home. On Wednesday night, R.A. Dickey will square off against young, but very wild punchout artist, Bud Norris, with hopes of just making small strides in putting a dent in this 5-12 record. What Dickey has going for him is that he was a part of the Mets' last victory as he pitched an inning of relief on Sunday.

Besides that, though, Dickey's year has not gone as smoothly as the last year thus far. While he has a decent 3.93 ERA, he's given up 20 hits in his 18 1/3 innings and he's walked 12. The knuckleballer only walked 48 in 174 1/3 total innings last season.

Norris is a 26-year-old righty with serious strikeout potential, but command that is extremely suspect. Last year he struckout over nine per nine innings thrown, but he also walked over four-and-a-half. He's 1-1 this season and in 16 innings, has fanned 20, while walking six. The Mets will have to be patient against him when they see his command isn't there; waiting too long against a guy like Norris, though, and Mets hitters could be finding seats on the bench after getting punched out.

When you've lost 11 of your last 13 games, what is there to look forward to? For one, Jason Bay is about to return from the disabled list -- it could be today with Tuesday's loss against the Astros -- as he went 4-for-4 with two homeruns in a rehab game on last night. And most importantly, only 10 percent of their season has been played and there's a lot that can happen -- maybe even something exciting! -- from now until then.