Santana's Shea Opener Stinks

Ahhh, staring down Fred Wilpon in his personalised contract negotiations has a price for Johan Santana. The saviour who has the weight of the Mets on his shoulders did not exactly knock 'em dead in his Shea debut in a Mets uniform.

Three of his pitches were knocked dead though. Dead over the fence and the Mets took the loss which had the nightmarish trifecta of the Saviour Disappointing, Reyes On The Mend and David Wright looking like Billy No Mates trying to work his way through some intense fielding yips.


No tears of joy for this outing...

But I'm all for looking on the bright side of this. Yes, the home town fans gave him an earful. Yes, he took the loss, yes the Mets winning streak ended at 3 and no, Johan did not do a Cy Young impersonation that was very believable.


thanks but no thanks

Still, he lasted more than 5 innings which is rare for a Mets starter, he took the gruff from the fans and the booing in stride and doesn't seem too fazed at all that he is disappointing thousands around the world. In fact, he seemed a bit cheeky:

"If they boo, that's fine," Santana said. "That's the history they've got from not being so good, I guess."

Nothing like dumping a little petrol on the fire, eh Johan? But that's the kind of cojones you need when you've got a franchise's faith resting on your shoulders in a merciless city of disappointed supporters who don't want to know about reality, they want their dreams coming true.

That he is now 1-2 in 3 starts is no reason to push the panic button. Not even if Ben Sheets did a better Johan Santana impression than Johan himself, but there will inevitably be days like these when the bile is oozing and everyone is tired of excuses.

Suffice it to say it's early in the season and perhaps the Mets' plan is to take the lead in the NL East so late in the season this year there won't be time for a late-season collapse again.

Or maybe, well, let's not go there just yet. The booing is premature, even if this is still all the bitterness of last season overflowing early. Let's face it, even if the Mets atarted this season undefeated we'd all be hanging there waiting for the penny to drop again anyway...