43 R.A. Dickey, SP

Blue Jays starting pitcher R.A. Dickey had to pitch eight innings Monday against the Rays to earn the win. Dickey (4-5) allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks, while striking out five in a 7-5 victory.

Dickey has won two straight starts and hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in his last three starts. 

"I've felt like I've been stuck in a quagmire for the last week, two weeks," Dickey said. "So it's nice to feel like you've got at least one foot out of it. I'm not going to say I feel great. I've had a few maladies over the season, and I'm hopeful to continue to progress. But I'm not all the way there yet."

After the game, Dickey had an ice pack on his right knee, but he downplayed the significance. 

"I just like the way that ice feels on my skin," Dickey said, per the National Post.

The Blue Jays have announced that R.A. Dickey will start Monday against Tampa Bay after his start Sunday versus the Yankees was rained out, TSN reports. 

Manager John Gibbons will have his upcoming rotation go Dickey followed by Ramon Ortiz and Mark Buehrle on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Chad Jenkins, who was expected to start Monday, will be skipped. 

On May 10, Scott White preached the importance of patience with regards to R.A. Dickey and his slow start. Tuesday, Dicky twirled his best start of the season, striking out 10 batters against the Giants. It's always nice when this game validates you, right Scott?

Entering Tuesday's start, Dickey had a 6.75 ERA in four starts at home, lending credence to the theory that maybe his knuckleball just doesn't dance enough inside a dome. However, Tuesday was his best start of the season, and it also came inside the dome, so maybe that four-start sample size wasn't quite enough for us to make that determination either way?

Dickey's going to be prone to randomness; that's just the way it is with knuckleball pitchers. On those days when his grip is just right and the ball flutters out of his hand, it is going to be unhittable. If conditions aren't right, he will struggle. However, we do have a pretty sizable three-season sample size in which he was one o the top pitchers in the majors, so patience was always going to be a necessary virtue for his owners.

If Tuesday was any indication, Dickey appears to have put his back and neck injuries behind him. Fantasy owners should feel comfortable relying on him from this point on. 

Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey looked much more like the pitcher who won the National League Cy Young award last season on Tuesday at home against the Giants. Maybe he just likes pitching against NL teams.

Dickey struck out 10 batters over six innings on 115 pitches. He gave up an RBI single in the second inning and a solo homer to Brandon Belt in the fourth but was otherwise not scored upon. He allowed two runs on six hits and two walks, lowering his ERA to 4.83.

The 38-year-old, who earned the win to improve to 3-5, has allowed just four runs over his last two starts spanning 12 innings with 15 Ks. Back on track after losing three straight decisions, Dickey makes his next start Sunday in New York.

So the Blue Jays' R.A. Dickey clearly isn't at his best right now.

His average velocity is down a couple miles per hour from a year ago, and his pitches are off the mark. With five walks Thursday, he has issued at least four walks in three starts this season after doing so twice all of last season.

In case you missed the narrative last year, the main attributes that distinguish him from past knuckleballers are velocity and control. If he loses them, he's close to ordinary.

But I wouldn't say he's lost them. They're not as good as last year, but they're still exceptional by knuckleballer standards. And seeing as he's been pitching through injury all this time, he's still likely to regain much of what he's lost. Plus, remember how finicky the knuckleball is in general. He hit the ground running with it last year, but some years, he needed a few weeks to get the grip just right.

I say you hold on to him. Maybe you don't start him every week right now, but even in his current state, he's a perfectly serviceable matchups type. And he has two starts coming up this week.