In my second start of the season I give up eleven hits and ten runs in five innings. After that, I get raked for seven hits and five runs, including three homers. Start after start, I pitch glorified batting practice, doing wonderful things to opponents’ batting averages. When I emerge from the dugout in Nashville’s Herschel Greer Stadium, or run wind sprints in front of the big guitar-shaped scoreboard in center field, people do not say, “There goes R. A. Dickey, our stopper.” A once-promising career has turned into a big Music City mess. I have no clue how close I am to being released, but I can’t be far. On June 1, my record is 3–4 and my ERA is 6.24, earning me a demotion from the starting rotation. Pitching in my hometown, in the place where I became the state prep player of the year, I feel like I’m letting everybody down, a colossal failure. I reach out to Charlie Hough in the hope that he can help me find an answer.
