17
2012
Braves Rough Up Santana In A 9-3 Mets Loss
An article by 
Johan Santana must have got on the bad side of lady luck as he records only four outs in a 9-3 Mets defeat.
Summary
If you check the box score, you will see a line of 1.1 IP for Santana with 6 R(4 ER), 4 H, and a walk. Santana has never lasted less than three innings in a game, so this is the shortest outing of his career. I can assure you, however, that he did not pitch nearly as bad as the line shows. The defense behind him left a lot to be desired as a Bay error in the first allowed an unearned run without a hit, and an errant Ike Davis throw in the second did not help matters at all. I will say that only one ball against Santana was really hit hard, and it was a rocket of a single by Matt Diaz. As Joey D. pointed out, the Braves did get some good swings on him in the first, however. The two RBI 2Bs by Freeman and Pastornicky in the second were both late swings and placed in lucky spots – hit the other way down the line. Santana’s E.R.A. jumped from 0.90 to 3.97 after this start and I am sure he will be bombarded with questions after the game. I for one, am not too worried about him yet.
Batista took over after and pitched an inning and two thirds cleanly, striking out two while routinely ramping up his velocity to about 94 MPH. Ramon Ramirez pitched the next two innings, allowing two runs in the bottom of the fifth after the Mets scored two in the top of the fourth, effectively killing whatever momentum the Amazins’ had picked up. A pinch-hit HR by Francisco off Manny Acosta in the 8th added the ninth run for the Braves. Acosta did finish the final 3 innings, matching his career high in IP for a game.
After the Mets fell behind 6-0, the offense had many opportunities to make a comeback, and just seemed outmatched out there tonight. The only sustained moment of success was a string of hits in the 4th after Uggla lost a Jason Bay pop up in the lights for a 2B. Thole, Kirk, and Baxter each proceeded to single, giving the Mets 2 in the inning. They scratched out a run in the sixth, but the 3-11 with RISP and 10 men LOB tell the real story. All 3 hits, however, were with 2 outs (Thole, Murphy, Baxter.)
On a lighter note, Wright/Murphy/Kirk all had two hits today, and Kirk definitely looked the most comfortable at the plate tonight. Nieuwenhuis really has looked impressive in his short stint so far, with his average bumped up to .321 and above average defense.
The defense… Well…about that. The error for Jason Bay led to the unearned run in the first and Ike Davis completely lost the handle on a ball he was trying to gun to Wright at third. I really have to chalk this up to bad luck, because both men are usually superb in the field.
Goat Of The Game
Johan Santana, unfortunately, who just did not have it today and his defense nor offense could not bail him out.
Notes
If Uggla had caught Bay’s pop out cleanly, he would have gone 0-4 with a K. He is pressing up there and I wonder if that HR last night was a sign of things to come or the outlier.
Both Johan Santana and Randall Delgado had moments where they literally almost lost their heads – you can thank Matt Diaz and David Wright for flashing their lives before their eyes on about 100 MPH line drives right back at them.
With Ramirez and Acosta throwing a combined 5 innings today, the likelihood is that they will not be available tomorrow with the game being so early.
Santana threw 55 pitches, 35 of them for strikes. We will see how they approach his next start in terms of the work they will give him in between.
Although Thole is not skilled defensively, he seems to have improved his approach at the plate significantly.
The Mets fall to 7-4 while the Braves improve to 6-5.
On Deck
Tomorrow, the Mets will try to win the rubber game of this series against the Braves with R.A. Dickey taking the mound against Jair Jurrjens. 12:10 start. (not a typo.)
On a side note, if anybody is attending the games on Friday night or Saturday afternoon, let me know. I will be at both games and I will be happy to meet any readers or fellow writers here. LGM!
About the Author: Satish Ram
I am a Senior Writer and Editor here at MetsMerized - where I specialize in Minor League coverage. I have been on the staff since 2007 and I am currently in my third semester of college in New York City. You can find me at www.facebook.com/SatishRam or @SilverHeatMMO. Feel free to message me - I love talking about the Mets or baseball overall with anybody.
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At least Santana said he felt fine physically. Guess the Mets are not going to go undefeated vs the Braves in 2012 after all. Going to have to settle for 2 out of 3 and with Dickey on the hill I like our chances. Medlen guy has the Mets number so far in 2012. Glad to not be seeing him 2morrow.
Noon start 2morrow.
LGM!!!
MNJ,
You know what I respect about McCann and Medlen? They call the inside fastball often, and even go high now and then to make sure hitters are off balance. Medlen can jack it up to about 93, which is pretty good, but even so, he keeps hitters off balance. Not an all-star but he pitches effectively.
You know Satish now that you say that Delgado was doing that pretty much as well also.
He was. It’s a general concept that they don’t teach as much these days, I believe. I don’t know if it’s McCann or the pitching coach, McDowell, but someone has the right idea there.
Neither Medlen nor Delgado are dominating in terms of their pitching style, but they were effective.
When Gee and Pelfrey do the same, it brings them more success. Mike probably gets people off balance lately with the curveball which also works for him.
If I’m not mistaken, Medlin has always had our number. The one guy we hammered last year was Venters. Braves have a solid bullpen.
I can assure you Santana looked absolutely horrible if he couldn’t get more than four outs. That makes Pelfrey look like a complete gamer. Its scary to think if he can’t pull it together next time. Between Santana and Bay the Mets have been milked for how many million dollars for basically nothing?
Hey Tampametsfan,
Absolutely horrible is pushing it, but he was definitely not “strong” out there in terms of what we are used to from him. With better defense and a little bit better luck in terms of where the ATL hits ended up, he could’ve lasted much longer out there tonight.
I said in the shoutbox earlier, with better defense he probably only allows 3-4 of those 6 runs but he didn’t have a feel for any of his pitches. Even his first two starts he seemed to be nibbling, afraid of contact. It’s only been 3 starts and he missed an entire year so I’m not too concerned yet but it’s something to keep an eye on. Johan used to go after the hitters. So far this year he’s been trying to make the perfect pitch with every pitch. It could be that he’s scared shitless about his defense too. lol
I actually agree completely. I noticed the same thing in the last start. He’s getting a lot of foul balls because of it as well, I think.
That’s also why he’s running up high pitch counts early in games. If he continues on that path he won’t make it out of the 5th to many times.
He seems to have lost his control and since he has no speed on his pitches anymore that means he has to have control. He looked like Oliver Perez out there. If he doesn’t get back the control he will get hammered next outing. You can bet other teams are watching.
I guess you never saw him pitch for the Mets in 08, 09 or 10………….
Step away from the ledge, clearly you don’t have the heart to be a Mets fan.
What an arrogant person you are Kay, thinking you are the god who determines who can and who cannot be a met fan. its rotten apples like you kay who make people hate New York and the the Mets so much. Hope you are proud of your false arrogance and your thoughts that you are god of fandom.
Amazin, on behalf of a lot of us, the CORE salute you
You’re doing Joe a disservice by implying he gives a pass on his commenting policy to females….
Did i use female or Females when i was refereing to kay??? Pay attention ok, this is why all you from that desert blog get attacked here..
Thanks again for the advertisement. I will do what I can to address the lack of rain. Obviously that would be a key to our success.
By the way:
“you have gotten a pass here for such a long time with your behavior towards others just because you use the female card…”
TRDBS86 i meant that, she HAS insulted plenty of people here and gets away with it, when is me or others we get called out for it. now,i am not 100%sure whether people have complaint to joe D about her and how she goes about it, but i can tell you i have thought about saying something, she’s an instigator and a baiter, and as soon as you defend yourself she then uses the female card to say a poster is attacking females here, again, if you don’t know the history of MMO try to stay out of it, i have told you many times before.. you wanna stick your nose in everything i say, give it a rest already… It starting to become creepy..
Actually Dynamic Wonder-boy and leader of the Core, I came into the conversation because you brought me in by advertising for my blog again. I can’t thank you enough.
Then I brought up the fact that as usual you were mistaken.
Your comment to SRT
“Did i use female or Females when i was refereing to kay??? Pay attention ok, ”
Obviously you did in deed use Females when “refereing” to her.
“you have gotten a pass here for such a long time with your behavior towards others just because you use the female card…”
Alex has a point.
Honestly I couldn’t careless about his feud with Kay or Jessup. I just responded to him advertising my blog and pointed out how his response to SRT was incorrect.
Well, then maybe you can explain that point to me.
Alex clearly pulled out the female card, then claimed he did not.
And looks like I’m not the only one confused by this.
Sorry SRT, I stepped out for a minute to research how much it would cost to bring in some palm trees and a casino or something into our desert blog.
‘Little by little peole are starting to see you for who you truly are kay, and i am glad… you have gotten a pass here for such a long time with your behavior towards others just because you use the female card…’
‘Did i use female or Females when i was refereing to kay???’
The answer would be yes.
but she is female…..atleast i think she is
SRT, i will tell you what i told TRDBS86, stay out of it, i am not saying anything about females, don’t pull a jesseP ok.. what i said is that she does bait people, then when offended or insulted after she started then she uses the “you insult a woman” just because card so she becomes the victim.. i am not saying anything about you or any other female in this blog..
Matter of fact, i pay little attention to what you and the desert crew write here since all MMO is according to YOUR leader is a fuming pile and a joking site to amuse you..
Can you help me find some good rates on cabana’s for my desert blog? With all the advertising you are giving it things are taking off. People are seeing YOU comment against it and think that it’s great. I should sign you to a contract.
Now back to your point,
Well dang, I can’t find one this time. Better luck next time.
Alex, I have no interest in getting involved in any feuds with anyone on here.
You might not have intended your comment to read the way it came out but it clearly does. You brought up preferential treatment. If you can’t read your comment and see that, then I don’t know what to tell you. And I wasn’t the only one who took it that way.
Anyone who violates the commenting policy here should be banned – whether that poster is male or female.
Do you do anything but tell the rest of us what lousy Mets fans we are?
Kay, you really have some nerve.
You mean 2008. After that he is 6 games over .500. Big whoop. You don’t pay someone that kind of money for one good year. He is injury prone and never should have gotten his contract. Every other team laughs at the Mets for being stupid enough to give him that money.
Well where else were the Mets going to get an ace?
At the time he was traded and signed money wasn’t a huge obstacle and we had thankfully missed out on Zito. Had we signed CC instead the following year we’re nowhere near the finish line in 2008 and most likely have Parnell, Acosta, Putz or Kunz closing in 2009.
600 IP and a 3.00 ERA in Santana’s first three years is nothing to sneeze at and 32 times in those three seasons he got run support of zero, one or two runs and some pretty shoddy defense at times as well.
Sure 7 years for a pitcher is a long commitment and you have to figure he’ll lose a season in their somewhere but at 29 – 35 and with nothing else even remotely close in the minors what are you going to do? Pedro was in his last year and by this time a 5-6 inning guy coming off major shoulder surgery and 36 years old. After that you got Pelfrey, Perez, Maine and Figgy and Niese who had posted a 4.29 ERA in A+ the year before and a very poor AAA staff. That’s not getting you near .500 and still leaves the problem of an ace going forward.
The only question about that move is whether it’s worth giving up Humber, Guerra, Mulvey and Gomez, not about 7 years and 137 M and without Santana in 2008 the season doesn’t go to the final day, it probably ends at some point in July.
Being init those last two months probably made the Mets 50 M over what they would have if they had fallen out of it by the end of July and we were 10-2 in games started by Santana in August and September so both from a money standpoint, as well as a trade and performance perspective I don’t see how anyone can complain about Johan with what was known at the time of the deal.
Not ideal giving out a 7 year deal to an ace at 29 years old but if you have no potential ace in your system how else are you going to get one?
If we had just an average pen we walk away with the Division in 2008 despite Castillo, Alou, Pedro and Wagner being hurt most of the season but again that’s to be expected when you sign so many older players.There going to lose a year. Which one? Who knows but with so many of them it could easily be two or three the same year.
Not Santana’s fault, nor is it his fault Delgado had 4 very ordinary months or that Church and Schneider didn’t perform up to expectations.
He did and then some. 2009 he pitched real well also, got shut down after we were out of it and had a terrific 2010 then HE got hurt. How he comes back will determine whether the contract was worth it but so far it certainly had been but we haven’t gotten full value out of his performance because of reasons other than Johan Santana.
Ok Who are you and what have you done to Tagee? LOL
Defending a FA signing by Omar? Not that I disagree but I am glad to see you finally see not every signing he made was such a tragedy for the franchise.
Yes Santana has been hurt not just physically but by a lack of run support from his team.
And as I pointed out elsewhere, Santana is the type that is so damn competitive he will go above and beyond the call of duty and capability of his own body to win a game!
And I think that has as much to do with Santana’s injury issues in the last 3 years as anything about his physical makeup!
He started to do the same thing yesterday and thankfully Terry pulled him before he could over exert that fragile shoulder and put himself back on the inury list!
Santana is a great competitor and thats what you want but without other competitors around to help them they can also be their own worst enemy!
And i truly believe that has as much to do with Santana’s injuries as anything!
The guy doesn’t like to lose or be associated with a loss. He is the proverbial solder who will fall on a grenade to win the battle and with the proper support around him might not have to kill himself or risk life and limbs to win it!
As much as we need Santana now we need him even MORE in August and September so Terry should be very quick to pull Santana when he is struggling and you see him compensating by a progressive dialing up like he tried last night.
” After that he is 6 games over .500. Big whoop”
Ya, he should score more runs for himself.
Hi Satish,
I actually thought the Braves were hitting hard shots against Santana from the get go.
Though the play resulted in an error, the ball was hit hard and long and Jason had to run full speed to catch up to it. Duda had to run full speed and stretch out to get what appeared to be a scorcher in the gap. That made me think right away it was going to be a short outing.
Those hits in the second were less lucky than they appeared well placed by the batters – hit ‘em where they ain’t as Wee Willie would have said.
But as you said, the important thing was that Johann was feeling fine and with no pain. He just didn’t have it tonight.
Joey,
You’re right actually, I overlooked Heyward’s shot in the first that Duda had to chase down at full speed. I had originally thought the Freeman/Pastornicky 2Bs were well placed, but watching the replays, Freeman has been in a slump and his swing looked defensive while Pastornicky was definitely late.
Regardless, hit em where they ain’t is the addendum that will always work lol. I stick to my guns in that I think he could’ve been better if he didn’t have such a rough defensive start behind him, though.
I wasnt able to catch the game but how was Santana’s velocity compared to his last start? If he was just having command issues that’s fine and it happens even to the best of them, but I hope that’s all it was.
As others said, JS hs been very choosy, almost reluctant about strike zone. Didn’t notice nearly the amount of change ups one would expect from him last night. Generally, his control has been off even in first two performances; last night control was a borderline disaster. I prefer to think of it as rust, and I will hope it is more or less scraped off completely by his eighth or ninth start.
My take on Santana last night- Santana is dead without his very best change-up and good command of all of his pitches. A flat 87, 88 fastball middle, middle or up around the letters and his meh slider without enough depth and tilt just isn’t going to cut it even vs. LHH. I think all of us better temper our enthusiam about Johan this year. I’m expecting more rough starts from Johan this year especially vs. teams that have already faced him previously this year.Johan also had an issue with Thole’s pitch calling last night. They had a tense conversation in the dugout.
I wondered about the conversation in the dugout but do we know that was what the conversation was about?
It could have been about the decision to take him out, the reason that the ball went to 3rd instead of taking the out at 1st… there’s a lot of things it could be.
Pelf I could see, but I figured that Santana pretty much called his own game anyway.
Interesting about that Thole/Santana conversation.
Gary and Ronnie were talking in the booth last night about how much improved Thole’s game calling is and how the pitchers as well have commented on it.
I have to wonder with the way they were hitting Santana if he had not slid back into his penchant for tipping his pitches?
I hope Warthen has the good sense to look at the film and see if that may have happened yesterday.
you think Warthen figured out how to use that new fangled projecter yet?
LOL doubtful!
Right, I have some nerve for posting my counterpoint; imagine that on a comment board. Someone comes here and posts how Santana looks like Oliver Perez and has milked the Mets, but I have some nerve to think that’s a crazy statement. Santana the one of the bright spots over the past few years, sans injury, was brilliant, and to go by his record is an inaccurate gauge on a pitcher, but most people with a smidge of baseball knowledge knows that.
Love you people calling me out but have no problem when someone uses vial names with disgusting language towards others but I have some nerve for calling someone out for saying Santana is milking the Mets.
Funny how some new names come out woodwork for the first time to blast me all of a sudden. Imagine that. Let me put on my surprise face.
Alex68 – there you go again with your lies. Giving a pass? What are you even talking about? Coming from the person that can’t write a comment without calling someone a name, cursing or making up blatant lies and you think I’ve been given passes? How dare you say I use the female card, coming from someone that uses the race card inaccurately and frequently! I could care less what you think you see through or your core. You all come here with keyboard muscles thinking you’re so tough and above everyone else. You are the personification of hypocrisy.
What does your post have to do with the Mets?
Maybe you didn’t see it in the papers, but the Mets got Johan Santana.
In a tribute to THE CORE I provide the following:
Meanwhile back at the Hall Of Justice, Ike Davis just hit a bomb to CF.
Ugh, now Dickey gives up one to CF as well. Must be a windy day.
David Clutchwright with another hit to that same CF driving in 2!
file that post under “spoke too soon” as is always the case whenever Wright gets a hit to drive in a run and one of his fans can’t control their knee-jerk reactions.
How about he get a hit with 2 runners on down 8–5? As usual he doesn’t get the hit when u need it the most. Today and last night.
Whenever Wright gets a hit to drive in a run one of those clowns always, and I do mean always makes a snarky post saying “ooo a clutch hit” as if they think they’re getting back at the people who question Wright ability to rise to the occasion – which is what he’s known for – coming up small in big spots.
Wright drives in 90 RBIs a year or so so they’ll have plenty of opportunities for those stupid, knee jerk comments
Oh and by the way it’s now ATL 9-5. And has Wright turned his legacy around? After a hot start the first 2 weeks in April? I think not.
See me at the end of the year and I’ll let you know but right now he’s just hitting and doing what he always does – being part of what makes a team good and NOT being the go to guy or the guy that you lean to for the big hit. Those types of hits usually come from other sources. So far this year nothing has changed.
Bay you know I was just throwing a bone out… LOL. I wanted Wright to get a hit there as much as anyone. It’s a long season and one AB is not going to make him clutch or unclutch. Clearly though it brought you out. I bet as soon as Wright K’d you came running with your opus.
David Clutchwright with another hit to that same CF driving in 2!”
And of course, HE FAILED when the team needed HIM to come trough, but wait, in the NUMBERS STAT LINE he’s 1-2 with RISP so his avg is 500… SMH
Alex you know good and well I posted that in jest. One ab doesn’t make someone clutch or unclutch, I know some of you haven’t learned that but I certainly have. Thus his ab early in the game didn’t make him clutch and his ab later in the game did not make him unclutch. I am just trying to add humor to a pointless debate.