Mets(courtesy of mlb.com)
Santana strides to the Busch Stadium mound — for the first time, never before having pitched in the shadow of the Arch — with the Mets in serious need of a stopper.
Santana has had more experience than he would have wanted pitching his team out of a hole. And he has been very good at it. Even in his injury-curtailed 2009 season, five of his wins followed Mets defeats.
Offensively challenged in the early going, Jerry Manuel’s club is ready for the kind of lift the stylish Venezuelan can provide.
Santana may be a stranger to Busch Stadium, but not to its resident prince. Pujols is a .500 hitter against him, with two of his six hits going for home runs. It’s nothing personal for Pujols, who mauls any pitcher wearing a Mets uniform. In only nine games against them last season, he drove in 14 runs and smacked four homers while batting .469.
Which is what made the 0-for-4 collar he wore Friday night so unusual.
Manuel appears to be relenting on the idea of eventually lowering Jose Reyes from the leadoff spot into the three-hole. “I’m going to reserve that a little bit until he feels comfortable, until he feels good about it,” the manager said.
Lineup
Reyes, SS
Castillo, 2B
Wright, 3B
Bay, LF
Francoeur, RF
Tatis, 1B
Barajas, C
Pagan, CF
Santana, P
Cardinals(courtesy of mlb.com)
The Cards are 4-0 in opening games of series this season. … The battery of Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina will receive their Gold Gloves Awards prior to Saturday’s game, and the hardware show will continue on Sunday, when Pujols will receive both his 2009 NL MVP and Silver Slugger Awards.
But that was only one of the odd sidelights to a game in which Oliver Perez shined brightly next to Chris Carpenter, yet the Mets lost.
That is all the encouragement needed by Jaime Garcia, as the young left-hander takes on Santana — two career wins to 123.
The 23-year-old from Reynosa, Mexico, pitched his way into the Cardinals’ rotation by turning the inch he was given into a mile.
“We knew he was talented, [but] we thought that physically, it might be a lot to ask to start him at the Major League level,” recalled St. Louis manager Tony La Russa. “It might be safer if he was in Triple-A with a little less attention and you could take care of him more. That’s how we started. And then after two or three [Spring Training] starts, and even in the workouts, he was throwing the ball more effectively. He was throwing the ball better than anybody from the first time he threw a bullpen to now.”
Lineup
Schumaker, 2B
Ludwick, RF
Pujols, 1B
Holliday, LF
Molina, C
Freese, 3B
Lopez, SS
Rasmus, CF
Garcia, P
PLAY BALL
68 comments
oleosmirf
4/17/2010-10:15pm at 10:15 pm (UTC -4)
if the Mets lose this game, which you know they will in the bottom of the 18th, we might as well just go for the 1st pick in the draft.
that last half inning was pathetic…
whataputz
4/17/2010-10:20pm at 10:20 pm (UTC -4)
i have grown up a met knick jet fan in a time when none of these teams have won anything. I have watched the knicks fail year after year and be the jokes of basketball. i have watched the jets win 3 games. I have watched the mets fail in remarkable fashion year after year. After watching the mets go down 1-2-3 against felipe lopez i can honestly say i’ve never been so disappointed in any of my teams. I mean any major league hitter could walk at will on him, blanco had 3 balls, all valdez had to do is slide, and mike jacobs flies out. It’s utterly unbelievable. I don’t know if Valdez will get out of this inning, I don’t know if the mets will win, but wow. And for Jerry Manuel: the Cards are about to throw Lopez out again against the top of our line-up and you throw out this scrub valdez instead of k-rod. You are a joke, the mets are a joke.
whataputz
4/17/2010-10:28pm at 10:28 pm (UTC -4)
he just bunted against a guy throwing 80 mph who isn’t a pitcher who has yet to throw a strike. If Jerry still has a job after this game that is a joke.
metsfan4decades
4/17/2010-10:34pm at 10:34 pm (UTC -4)
How do we not have about a dozen runs?
You know your offense is bad when you can only manage one run on a sac fly against two non pitchers.
Unbelievable.
metsfan4decades
4/17/2010-11:11pm at 11:11 pm (UTC -4)
FINALLY!!!!!!
Can someone tell me what happened to Krod in the 20th?
oleosmirf
4/17/2010-11:15pm at 11:15 pm (UTC -4)
well i have officially ended my postseason hopes after this gastly performance.
the fact they scored only 2 runs in 3 innings off position players is absolutely pathetic…and they needed sac flies to do it…
Manuel and HoJo need to go…
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