Santana had a great 2008 for the Mets but thanks to the bullpen his amount of victories was limited.  There were some great pitching performances such as his complete game against the Cardinals after a 14 inning game the night before.  Then there was the game on the 23^rd of September when he pitched a career high 125 pitches against the Chicago Cubs, a win the Mets needed to keep their playoff hopes alive.  The big game of Johan’s Met career came on the 27^th of September.  The Mets absolutely needed this game, the bullpen was a mess, and Johan pitched a complete game, three-hit shutout against the Marlins, keeping the playoff hopes alive for the Mets.  It would later be revealed that Santana was playing hurt and needed knee surgery once the season ended.

Coming off of knee surgery there were big expectations for Johan Santana.  The first several months in 2009 were good months for Santana; he was probably the best pitcher in the National League at that point.  Unfortunately 2009 was the year of the injury for most of the Mets.  Santana like many Mets had to have surgery.  The surgery was to remove bone chips in his pitching elbow, thus ending his 2009 season.  This is the 2^nd time in his career that he had to have this kind of surgery on his pitching elbow and it was the 2^nd surgery he endured in 2 years.

Santana was a question mark coming into this year.  Everyone wondered how his elbow would hold up; would he still be the same pitcher he was a few years ago?  So far I have to say the answer is NO!  Johan’s velocity is down, he’s lucky to go above 90 right now.  His change up is ineffective to say the least right now.  He is throwing more pitches per inning this season and is lucky to go 6 innings per start.

This is not just a reaction to Sunday’s horrible performance.  This season Johan has been having trouble getting out of innings, his pitch count climbing to 40 pitches or more in the early innings.  Everyone talks about the 20 inning marathon against the Cardinals, how strong he was and how dominant he was.  Let’s not forget his pitch count was up there in the 2^nd inning.  I know he was able to correct himself but that is still troubling.

Look at the game against the Washington Nationals last month at the pitchers park Citi Field.  He allowed 5 runs in 5 innings including a grand slam from Josh Willingham.  He has so far allowed 2 grand slams this year and it’s only May.  His control and location have been horrible this season, he walked Jamie Moyer on Sunday to drive in a run before giving up a monster shot.

I have to wonder is Johan the same Johan Santana we traded for?  Is he the ace we all need him to be?  Look at other aces in the majors such as C.C. Sabathia for the Yankees, Roy Halladay for the Phillies and Tim Lincecum for the Giants.  These guys are aces for their teams.  You know that when they start its lights out.  They are going to most likely win the game, if not keep their teams in the game.  I cannot say the same for Santana anymore.  I don’t have the confidence I used to knowing that Johan would be starting the game.  Those pitchers I mention go at least 7 innings per game.  A lot of the time they go the distance, giving their bullpen’s a little rest and they do not give up 10 or more runs when they have their “bad days.”

Perhaps the two surgeries on his elbow and the knee surgery have taken their toll on Santana.  Santana is getting older just like the rest of us.  He’s a great pitcher but he’s not a machine.  I know this is not popular but maybe Santana can no longer be the pitcher he used to be.  Santana might not be our ace and we have to prepare for that.  I hope I’m wrong and Santana will become the Santana of old and help guide this team to a championship.  Only time will tell.

Go back to last year and the press conference from hell where Omar Minaya called out Adam Rubin and accused him of trying to obtain a job with player development. The announcement that the Mets decided to fire Tony Bernazard should have been a simple one.  The Mets could have easily put out a press release informing the media that after Omar Minaya’s “investigation” the organization decided to part ways with Bernazard.  Instead the Mets made a bad situation worse and added another distraction to the team.

As school children I’m sure a lot of us would ask why we need to know history and the answer always was “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” I guess the Mets never heard that saying because last week was another example of the Mets not learning from history and to top it off the recent history of last year’s Bernazard disaster.

It’s been almost a week and there are still a lot of questions regarding how Carlos Beltran’s surgery occurred.  The bottom line for me and I’m sure most fans is a simple one: Carlos Beltran had surgery on his knee, he will not be able to resume baseball activities for at least 12 weeks and he won’t be back for awhile.  All the Mets had to do was tell the press and the fans why he had surgery, the result of the surgery, and when they expected him to be back on the team.  The Mets did not need to put it out in the universe that Carlos Beltran went out on his own and got surgery on his ailing knee.  Now the Mets have started a war of words with their Center Fielder and his agent.  Like many wars this war was unnecessary.  Beltran had the surgery, it was done, and the Mets even if they did not approve of the procedure should have simply lied and put on a happy face to the public.

It’s 19 days into the 2010 and already there was a scandal and unfortunately with the current way the club is run I’m sure there will be many other embarrassing moments to come, hopefully the Mets will prove me wrong.