Yesterday at 1:10 in the afternoon there was a crescendo of emotions at Digital Domain Field in Port St Lucie. Mets fans, along with Mets coaches and players were waiting with baited breath to see the Ace of the Mets staff, face the St Louis Cardinals.
If you have been living in either French Micronesia or living under a rock, Santana hasn’t faced Major League hitters in about a year and a half after having surgery to repair his pitching shoulder.
Two innings and 29 pitches later, Santana was finished. His peripherals are as follow – 2 innings, 1 hit, one walk while surrendering no runs. It was a great first step for Santana – and a reason for us Mets fans to get cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season.
Santana is the wild card of this shaky Mets rotation. If he fails to pitch in at least 20 games it is quite possible the Mets will end the season in the basement for the first time in nearly a decade. Santana was overthrowing at times, missing his target at times. But this has to be expected. I am sure that as Spring Training progresses Santana’s location will improve. He threw more fastballs that off speed pitches, but when he did throw his slider and his curve you could see that they were nasty. His fastball topped off at 90 mph just once, that is great for a man who had such risky shoulder surgery, and it is quite possible that he is able to touch the mid 90′s again- but lets not get ahead of ourselves.
The real test for Johan starts now. He has to see how his shoulder feels in these next few days. Is it fatigued ? Does it feel stiff or tight ? Is he pain free ?
These questions will be at the fore front of both our and the Mets coaching staff. But you would have to be the most negative Mets fan not to feel giddy about the performance we saw from Johan Santana yesterday.
And with that said… HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday today includes:
Original Mets shortstop, Ed Bouchee is 79 (1933) .
Mets starting pitcher from ’62-’65, Galen Cisco is 76 (1936).
Spot starter/middle reliever from ’93-’94, Mauro Gozzo is 46 (1966) .
One time Mets second baseman – and a sure bet for the Hall of Fame, Jeff Kent is 44 (1968). Fans never did warm up to Kent’s “matter of fact” personality, coupled with the fact that he was obtained for fan favorite – David Cone. But in his 5 seasons with the Mets, Kent batted .279 with 67 homers and 267 RBIs.
The Los Angeles Dodgers signed reserve first baseman, Craig Brazell of the New York Mets as a free agent on March 7, 2006. Brazell was selected by the Mets in the fifth round of the ’98 draft. He played in 24 games with the Mets in ’04, and he batted .265 with 1 homer and 3 RBIs .
Mo Vaughn is sexy and he knows it !!!
5 comments
darknova306
3/7/2012-6:38am at 6:38 am (UTC -4)
Giddy about 29 pitches? Not so much. If he’s healthy, making regular starts, and effective until mid-July, then it’s time to start getting ‘giddy’.
Stickguy
3/7/2012-7:15am at 7:15 am (UTC -4)
well, the exciting part is that he is participating normally in ST, and so far has been able to pitch without pain and seems to be throwing free and easy (arm not restricted). So at this pint of the year, about as giddy as you can get!
MetsFan4Decades
3/7/2012-7:49am at 7:49 am (UTC -4)
Watched the game yesterday. I thought all things considering, Santana looked great. However, I’m still taking the odds on he won’t be ready for opening day. If he is, I’ll consider that gravy – then cross my fingers he doesn’t wind up on the DL soon after.
If he does wind up starting 20 games or better this year, he should become the poster boy for any other ball player trying to make it back from an injury and/or surgery.
gategem
3/7/2012-9:27am at 9:27 am (UTC -4)
Chien-Ming Wang had similar surgery on 7/30/2009 and didn’t pitch in the majors again until 7/29/2011. I saw him pitch for the Nationals and at times he would be serviceable but at no time did he look like the pitcher I saw with the Yankees. I observed Wang at times touch the low 90’s but mostly his fastball sat between 86-88 mph. So the thought of Santana once again possessing a mid 90’s fastball is not promising but he can be effective if he stays healthy and adjusts to whatever his talent level will be.
Stick
3/7/2012-11:27am at 11:27 am (UTC -4)
he didnt have it before he went out with the bad shoulder. Getting up to a consistent 90 (maybe 91) would be more than wonderful.