Mets Video

Dickey's diving stop

Dickey's dazzling start

Phillies Video

Halladay's nine strikeouts

Halladay's two-run single

It is that type of performance the Mets will need again Sunday, when Dickey faces off against Phillies ace Roy Halladay, who is 7-4 with a 1.77 ERA at home this season.

Even after scuffling by his standards in June, when he gave up double-digit hits three times and, in parts of July, when he gave up five earned runs to the Cubs in six innings on July 18, Halladay has been all business since then.

In his last six starts, Halladay is 4-1 and has given up only eight earned runs, while striking out 46 to move his record to 13-8 with a 2.17 ERA. In his last start against Florida, Halladay gave up one run on five hits in seven innings for the win.

"He goes seven or eight innings every time out," teammate Ben Francisco said. "That makes it pretty easy on us."

In his only start against the Mets this year on May 1, the righty pitched a shutout and gave up only three hits.

While it may be a tough feat for Dickey to go toe-to-toe with Halladay, he has been in quite a groove himself.

Over his last seven starts, Dickey has given up a total of nine earned runs, while striking out 26. He has also gone six innings or deeper in all but one of those starts.

On Tuesday against the Braves, Dickey pitched six innings and gave up two runs on five hits for a no-decision.

"I did all I could do," Dickey said after the game. "I threw a lot of terrible knuckleballs tonight, but I threw enough good ones in the right situations to get it done."

Mets: Runs at a premium
The Mets have scored four runs or fewer in 14 of their past 16 road games and they are 4-12 in these games. ... New York has scored three runs or fewer in five of its six games this month, going 2-4. ... The Mets are 12-37 when scoring three runs or fewer this season.

Phillies: Lidge regaining his dominance
Since his three-run meltdown in Washington, Phillies closer Brad Lidge is 3-for-3 in save opportunities, with only one hit allowed, no walks and four strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings. "I think he's definitely getting ahead of the hitters, or when he falls behind early in the count, he rebounds and catches up. He's not getting into what I call 'have to' counts, where he has to throw a good pitch or worries about walking people or something like that," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He's been getting his slider over and throwing enough fastballs inside, I think. He's just been throwing more strikes."

Worth noting
Halladay has given up four runs or more five times this season. He has also had double-digit strikeouts only two times this year. However, he has struck out nine six times. ... Dickey has never pitched at Citizens Bank Park and is 3-3 with a 2.83 ERA in 10 road starts this season.