R.A. Dickey stumbled for the first time as a Met on Monday night, allowing five earned runs on five hits and a walk in five innings against the Marlins in Puerto Rico, taking his first loss since joining the team in a 10-3 defeat.

The Marlins did essentially all of their damage against Dickey in a four-run fourth inning, highlighted by back-to-back doubles by Gaby Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez that plated a total of three runs. To Dickey’s credit, he settled down to retire the Marlins in order in both the fourth and fifth innings before yielding way to a bullpen that found about as little success as he did.

Nonetheless, Mets fans won’t hold the poor outing against Dickey in light of the success the 35-year-old knuckleballer has had since joining the team on May 19. In seven starts prior to Monday’s outing, Dickey went 6-0 with a 2.33 ERA while stabilizing what had been a very uneasy starting rotation. Even after Monday’s loss, he still boasts a very healthy 2.98 ERA. If he had enough innings to qualify among the league leaders, that number would be good for 13th in the National League. His old 2.33 mark would be good for fifth.

It seems to be all but a lock that the Mets will have at least one representative from their starting rotation at next month’s All-Star Game in Anaheim in Mike Pelfrey, but all of Dickey’s unexpected success raises a very good question -- should he be given All-Star consideration?

A debate has surged recently over whether Washington Nationals wunderkind Stephen Strasburg should make the NL All-Star team despite having made just five starts to date. The 21-year-old Strasburg was, of course, met with unrivaled anticipation in his MLB debut after establishing himself as baseball’s top pitching prospect in years during a vaunted collegiate career at San Diego State. He’s unquestionably met expectations thus far, pitching to a 2.27 ERA while striking out 48 batters in 31 2/3 innings. Like Dickey, however, Strasburg struggled for the first time this year on Monday, allowing four runs -- three of them earned -- on six hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings of a 5-0 loss to Atlanta.

Certainly, the two pitchers could not have come from more different backgrounds, Strasburg as the hot-shot prospect and Dickey as the nearly forgotten journeyman, but if you leave hype aside and go purely on the numbers, it would seem difficult to justify bringing one of the two to Anaheim and not the other. Yet, it would not be at all surprising to anyone for Strasburg newfound star power to carry him onto the roster while Dickey watches from home.

Still, if Dickey continues to find success on the hill, that alone will be enough of a consolation prize for the Mets.

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