Tuesday, June 19, 2007

What got into Johan Santana tonight?

What a difference a new pitcher makes. Last night at Shea Carlos Silva had a rough night, and the Twins couldn't get anything going on offense off of John Maine, and lost 8-1 to the Mets. Tonight Santana pitched a complete game shut-out, cashing in a promise from Bert Blyleven to shave his head if Johan got the shut-out. Bizarrely he only had one strike-out coming in the 9th inning, when that's usually Santana's bread and butter, and as Blyleven noted, he was using Silva's game to do what Silva failed to do the night before. It wasn't enough to strangle the Mets offense, since Santana also had a good game at the plate, warding off a pinch hitter and letting him stay in all nine innings. Seriously, for an American League pitcher that was just ridiculous, he was getting way ahead in the count against Jorge Sosa, drew a walk and got an extra base hit (with first base coach Jerry White frantically shouting at him not to get carried away), and scored a run himself to insure the win. Johan just missed getting an infield single to really stick it to the Mets, but with Johan going nuts, the game was over in the second inning when the Twins put six runners on and scored five, never looking back. After that thrashing, I'd love to predict doom and gloom for the Mets tomorrow night, but I have an unfortunate feeling they may bounce back against Scott Baker.

Piranhas 9 - 0 Mets
W-Santana
L-Sosa

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