Mets Beat Red Sox Despite Themselves

Ah, but for a team of 8 more Johan Santanas the Mets would be the best team in baseball.


Missing only Superman's cape...

Arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Santana's starts with the Mets this season have always clouded by the mediocrity of his teammates. Few, if any runs scored in support, terrible, Little League-style fielding and the stigma of pitching for a team that simply never seems to match the calibre and quality of Johan Santana.

One cheap hit and an error starts off your game in Fenway? No problem, just strike out David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis (which apparently in Greek means Big Douchebag) sending them back to the dugout shaking their heads.

Handicapped by the erratic fielding of Ramon "Fielding Chimp" Martinez inning after inning alone? No problem. He did cost Johan a pair of runs but the second error might have cost the Mets the game had a mere mortal been on the mound.

Youkilis staring you down in the 5th after getting hit in the elbow? No problem. On your bike, Youkilis - you tell him to shut his gob and get on with it to first base.

Johan Santana is the epitome of everything his teammates are not.

For one night anyway, Johan Santana was enough.

Unfortunately, he won't be pitching the rest of the series.

******

I was thinking before the game how strange it is that I had no idea who'd be starting at shortstop, first base, left field, right field and who would be catching. (as it turns out, got centerfield wrong as well...) How many contending teams can you think of whose starting lineup is such a complete mystery day to day? Sure, there's a few injuries but the fact that no one knows who is playing where from one night to the next could be called flexibility or uh....disarray?

They say with Big Pelf the "ground ball specialist" on the mound they can't risk using Fernando Tatis at short because he's only played the position a few times in his career but like most of Jerry's conclusions, this one doesn't wash. Sticking Martinez back out there to play the clown again appears to be a decision based on comedic value rather than the desire to win another game against the Sox.

Arguably you could put a scare crow out there in the shortstop dirt and still be at an advantage over having Martinez out there. And the scare crow would probably hit better too.

It's nothing short of miraculous that the Mets were able to win this game, the kind of game the Mets usually lose but don't count on a repeat with Beckett taking the mound tonight.