Jun
20
2012

Santana Gives Mets A Sigh Of Relief

An article by John Delcos

After he was roughed up in the two starts following his 134-pitch no-hitter, there was worry again something might be wrong with Johan Santana’s surgically-repaired left shoulder.

Six scoreless innings last night against the Orioles eased those concerns. Not entirely, because can you ever be certain about a shoulder, but there’s a good feeling about the tandem of him and R.A. Dickey.

Every game has a moment of decision for a pitcher, and Santana’s came in the fourth when the Orioles had runners on second and third with one out. Santana responded by striking out the next two hitters.

The Mets have thrown consecutive shutouts three times this season and lead the majors with eight overall.

In addition to Santana, the Mets continued to receive positive offensive news, from an expected source and a surprise.

Lucas Duda homered again and Jordany Valdespin added a two-run single while demonstrating his versatility. Last night he was in left; the night before at second.

And, maybe the biggest plus was getting three scoreless innings from what has been an erratic bullpen. Terry Collins is going back to handling Santana with kid gloves after the no-hitter, which translates into more innings from the pen.

Thoughts from Joe D.

I’ll be honest with you. His two starts after the no-hitter had me very concerned. All I kept thinking about was Terry Collins tearing up after the no-hitter and lamenting the toll the 134 pitches may have taken on Santana’s surgically repaired shoulder. Was last night a huge sigh of relief for all of us? You betcha… We may officially now have the best 1-2 punch in the NL East with Johan and Dickey, and quite possibly the entire NL as well.

About the Author: John Delcos

I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.

11 Comments + Add Comment

Metsie June 20, 2012 at 11:48 am

I won’t be relieved about Santana’s shoulder till he makes it through the season without issue…
Lotus1209 June 20, 2012 at 1:01 pm

Lets not get ahead of ourselves here… Halladay and Lee on their game is easily top 1-2. Then its Strasburg and Gio surprisingly. No way Dickey can keep this up.. as much as I want them too. Dickey and Johan are at best number two in the division. This division has a LOT of pitching.
- stick June 20, 2012 at 2:55 pm
  
  wel, if Joe meant right now, it is a differnet story. Halladay won’t be back until at least the end of July. And recently hamels and Lee have not been all that sharp most of the time. not gonna kick them out of bed but at this point? You can argue Johan and Dickey.
Bayonne Mets Fan June 20, 2012 at 1:04 pm

off topic but just want to point out that CleanupShoutBox’s identity should be revealed. It’s not fair that an anonymous entity is over there regulating everything EVERYBODY says and from both sides of the fence.

The people can regulate themselves and this Cleanupshoutbox character, whoever he/she is is getting out of hand and overstepping their bounds.

Who is this person?
- Alex68 June 20, 2012 at 1:09 pm
  
  The people can regulate themselves and this Cleanupshoutbox character, whoever he/she is is getting out of hand and overstepping their bounds”
  
  I second that, not to mention how that person seem to just have it out for you, me and a few other, while donal and JesseP roam the chat room without a problem or any kind of warning… I don’t have a problem having the cleanup guy/gal there, my problem is the bias Authority he/she shows towards those 2…
  - Russell Zanca June 20, 2012 at 6:26 pm
    
    Time and again it was proven that “people [could NOT] regulate themselves.” Therefore Cleanup Shoutbox is a great idea, and I certainly don’t favor the need for transparent identity. Just as very few commentators reveal their true identities.
    
    Best thing that’s happened to the Shoutbox yet. I myself have been regulated when I couldn’t control my own temper; I deserved it.
- Angelo June 20, 2012 at 1:16 pm
  
  i think you have nothing to do with the shoutbox anyway
- Joe D June 20, 2012 at 4:35 pm
  
  CleanupShoutbox could be one of a dozen people ranging from Alyssa, Cameron, Miguel, Lisa, Teddy, James or whomever else the company we contracted to moderate chooses to employ. It’s a service that we hope will make our Mets Chat Room one for fans of all ages to enjoy.
  
  It should also be noted that two days ago there was a serious attempt made to hack our site. Much of our data was corrupted and it ended up in the loss of over 50,000 comments that could not be salvaged.
  
  If the site is running sluggish for you please let me know as we’ve had to add some security modules that have definitely affected the overall performance somewhat.
  
  I apologize for the latest inconveniences.
  - srt June 20, 2012 at 6:24 pm
    
    Don’t understand hackers at all.
    If they would put their obvious skills towards something legitimate, they’d be millionaires…the legal way.
  - MetsJets13 June 20, 2012 at 10:42 pm
    
    Maybe this is your hacker. http://new-york-mets.fans-talk.com/
    
    They are stealing all your posts.
srt June 20, 2012 at 1:12 pm

There’s a long way to go in this season. I’ll probably be holding my breath on Johan until it’s over.

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