Mets baseball blog

Santana's gem goes for naught

Johan Santana scripted a scoreless and nearly flawless performance at Shea, firing seven shutout innings of three-hit brilliance against the Diamondbacks. But he not only received a no-decision, he didn't even get to celebrate a Mets triumph. Instead, Santana watched Billy Wagner blow another save - and the ace lefty's victory - in a 5-4, 10-inning loss.

Santana had perhaps the finest turn of his 14-start Mets tenure, delivering his first scoreless outing and matching his season-high with 10 strikeouts. How nasty was Santana? He struck out five straight from the last batter of the first inning to the first one of the third. He also put just seven men on base total in a 116-pitch masterpiece that was all for naught. "His changeup was unbelievable today," catcher Ramon Castro said. Added Jose Reyes, "I feel sorry for the guy." Continue

Santana gets OK to start vs. Yankees

The Mets made sure ace Johan Santana would start Friday's opener of the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium by bringing up veteran right-hander Claudio Vargas to pitch tonight against the Nationals. As well as purchasing the contracts of Vargas and utilityman Fernando Tatis from Triple-A New Orleans, the Mets also activated reliever Matt Wise while designating pitchers Jorge Sosa and Nelson Figueroa for assignment and placing outfielder Angel Pagan (bruised shoulder) on the disabled list.

Bringing Vargas to replace Figueroa in the rotation, though, was the Mets' most prominent decision yesterday. The ex-Brewer was released by Milwaukee in a salary dump late in spring training, then signed with the Amazin's in part because he had played under GM Omar Minaya in Montreal. Continue

Looks like Mets Santana will start subway series

Johan Santana, Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya were coy about it yesterday, but all indications are the Mets are planning to alter their rotation so Santana can pitch against the Yankees in the Bronx Friday in the opener of the Subway Series.

All the Mets would have to do is switch Santana and Mike Pelfrey this week. Pelfrey would pitch Thursday against the Nationals and Santana would face the team that didn't trade for him this offseason. "We're considering it," general manager Minaya said. Continue

Johan Santana starts new era for Mets

Sometime after 4p.m. Monday - after however long it takes Marlins lefthander Mark Hendrickson to navigate the Mets' lineup in the top of the first, which could take awhile - the Johan Santana era officially begins.

And with the $137.5 million addition on board, the Mets can officially bury their 2007 debacle, which culminated with the very same Marlins scoring seven first-inning runs against Tom Glavine en route to an 8-1 victory against the Mets in Flushing on Sept. 30. (Okay, not the very same Marlins, since Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis have been traded to Detroit, but close enough to make the Shea faithful see.) Continue

Johan will have to get used to hitting

For Johan Santana, pitching is the easy part. As much as Santana will enjoy hitting in the National League this season, it takes a toll, and he discovered that last night after ripping a double off Orioles starter Jon Leicester into the right-centerfield gap in the second inning.

Santana later came around to score on Jose Reyes' single, and when he returned to the mound for the third inning, he needed a moment to catch his breath. "That's the toughest thing to do for a pitcher," said Santana, a career .286 hitter. "I've got to be careful. For me, it's going to be a learning process, but I was able to recover pretty quick." Continue

Johan Santana aced by Cardinals

If you want to hear Willie Randolph formally declare Johan Santana the Opening Day starter, you'll have to wait. "Patience, patience," the manager said. Of course, Randolph then added: "You can go out on a limb."

Santana didn't have a pitching line befitting a $137.5 million ace Saturday - he allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and a walk while striking out five in a five-inning effort during the Mets' 10-3 loss to the Cardinals. But the lefthander suggested he is tuning up well with two weeks left in spring training. "We're making progress," said Santana, who in his previous two outings had allowed four hits and one run over a combined seven innings. "All my pitches are there." Continue

Johan Santana shows he is Mets' ace and No. 1 pitcher Red Sox are missing

It only was appropriate that Johan Santana turned in his sharpest, most efficient outing of the spring Monday against the Red Sox, who are suddenly without a bona fide No. 1 starter to open the season against the A's in Japan in two weeks.

It indeed was a day rife with "what-might-have-beens" as Santana's opponent was fellow lefty Jon Lester, reportedly one of the principal young pawns offered to the Twins for the two-time Cy Young Award winner earlier this winter. And none of it was lost on Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, who made the trip from Fort Myers for the primary purpose of watching his guy, not the guy he didn't get. Continue

Johan Santana's off-speed is on

Johan Santana's dazzling changeup took center stage in his second start as the Mets ran their Grapefruit League winning streak to five games with a 3-2 win over the Dodgers on Wednesday.

Santana allowed one run on two hits while striking out four and walking one in a 54-pitch effort over three innings. He regularly hit 91 mph on a radar gun, up 1-2 mph from his first outing, when he yielded a three-run homer to the Cardinals' Juan Gonzalez. The lefty's lone blemish against L.A.: an RBI single by Jason Repko. Continue

Johan Santana roughed up in Met debut

Johan Santana would have preferred to make a better first impression. But his 13.50 Grapefruit League ERA is nothing the Shea faithful won't forgive with a 20-win season and meaningful games in late October.

Juan Gonzalez, whose most recent professional experience came in 36 games as a Long Island Duck in 2006, belted a first-pitch fastball over the left-field wall at Tradition Field for a three-run, first-inning homer and the Mets fell to the Cardinals, 5-4, Friday in Santana's Mets debut. The ace's line: two innings, four hits, three earned runs, no walks, one strikeout. Continue

Johan Santana makes debut Friday

It's not quite March, and already Johan Santana is being called upon to be the stopper. Well, not exactly, but the $137.5 million addition is set to make his Grapefruit League debut Friday against the Cardinals in Port St. Lucie with the Mets' spring record at 0-2-1 - and the tie coming against a college team (okay, a ranked college team).

"Yeah, I think we'll win before too long," Willie Randolph playfully said yesterday, after the Mets were blanked by St. Louis, 7-0. "Maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow we'll win one. I've got a shot tomorrow. That's why I'm making that bold prediction. That's a safe prediction right there." Continue

New ace Santana passes his first test in Florida

The Mets' first official workout for pitchers and catchers yesterday belonged to Johan Santana, who opened with a morning news conference, threw a bullpen session for the team's braintrust and then signed autographs for a few minutes on his way to the clubhouse.

As expected, all eyes were on the $137.5-million man, including those of owner Fred Wilpon, who watched him fire away to catcher Brian Schneider. When asked how he felt being viewed as the missing piece to a Mets championship, Santana shrugged. "They were looking for improvement," the two-time Cy Young winner said, "and they got some improvement." Continue

The quiet arrival

The Mets New York Mets are already in protective mode with Johan Santana Johan Santana . The team's newly acquired starting ace reported to spring training a day early yesterday, but Mets officials wouldn't let Santana speak to reporters after his brief afternoon pitching session. The reason: They don't want to exhaust the heavily in-demand Santana after subjecting him to a marathon press conference and introduction ceremony at Shea Stadium last week. Continue

Santana had a day at Shea

Queens welcomed a new king yesterday. It was a greeting fit for royalty, too, as the Mets New York Mets officially unveiled Johan Santana with a glitzy, made-for-TV ceremony at Shea Stadium that was held in two languages and came complete with celebrity tributes ranging from Mayor Bloomberg to Jerry Seinfield.

Last September's epic collapse suddenly seemed like ancient history - or so the Mets hoped. "This is an historic day for the Mets franchise," general manager Omar Minaya beamed to the overflow crowd of reporters. Continue

For Santana, megabucks mean maximum pressure

Johan Santana, welcome to the neighborhood. You know the neighborhood I'm talking about, and it's not Mr. Rogers'. It doesn't have a zip code; it has a price tag. The expectations are high in that neighborhood, so high that sometimes even guys who have steadily traded up throughout their careers, in terms of money and production, find them dizzying and impossible to live up to. It's the neighborhood A-Rod has been living in for the past four years, and it's a tough one to reside in. Continue

Johan Santana, Mets agree on deal

They didn't beat the deadline, but they got the job done. Johan Santana and the Mets agreed on the terms of a record-breaking $150 million, seven-year extension on Friday. The deal, the biggest ever for a pitcher, clears the biggest hurdle in putting the two-time Cy Young Award winner at the head of the Mets rotation.

In return for the extension, Santana will waive the no-trade clause in his contract and allow the four-for-one deal between the Mets and Twins to go through. The Twins get outfielder Carlos Gomez and righthanded pitchers Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. All that remains is for the players to pass physicals. Continue

Mets confident they'll be able to sign Santana

The Mets convened with Johan Santana's representatives yesterday, and the club remains optimistic that it will be able to agree to terms on a contract extension with the two-time Cy Young Award winner by tomorrow's 5 p.m. deadline.

General manager Omar Minaya told industry friends he is at peace with the reality that Santana will request a salary well over $20 million per season. The years on the contract figure to be trickier - Santana would like a seven-year deal, matching what the Giants gave Barry Zito in December 2006 - but the Mets have a history of getting deals done with Santana's agent, Peter Greenberg, who also represents Jose Reyes and Endy Chavez. A group believed to include Minaya, COO Jeff Wilpon and assistant general manager John Ricco met with Greenberg in Manhattan. Continue

Johan Santana: From humble beginnings to baseball's biggest stage

High in the Andes mountains, on a primitive baseball diamond scattered with stones, Johan Santana learned how to throw a baseball. The Cy Young winner hails from rural Tovar, Venezuela, where soccer was king, poverty was a birthright and the tallest building stood just three stories. Now the All-Star pitcher known as "El Gocho" - the hillbilly - will work on one of baseball's biggest stages as the Mets' newest star.

For Santana, who turns 29 on March 13, the anticipated trade from the Minnesota Twins caps an unlikely journey from the far-flung mountains of South America to the Great White Way. The hard-throwing hurler, arguably the best pitcher in baseball, showed no hint of untapped promise in his first few games on a Tovar field - but he had an excuse. The now-dominant lefty began his career as a right-handed shortstop. Santana was the fourth of five children, raised in a working-class section of town. His father was a semi-pro shortstop; an older brother was considered the family baseball prospect. That changed when Santana became a full-time left-hander. Few noticed the switch, but one who did was a baseball scout with a keen eye and a reliable car. Continue