Any chance Johan Santana can pitch on no days' rest?
Desperate to stay in the playoff race, the New York Mets brought back their ace early and he delivered, pitching a three-hitter that led them over the Florida Marlins 2-0 on a rainy Saturday.
I'm not a true fan -- I can't bear to watch games like today, where one mistake will cost you. Or, another inning from that bullpen. The Mets had so many of them, including in playoff sort of games, in the last decade. Too many. But, Santana has -- to be fair, maybe those early Willy Randolph moves to take him out early helped and/or his usual second half strengths -- did it today. With an assist of a couple leaders and the no name of the moment. Just as they didn't in too many games.
The Mets live for another day, fans having Perez's Game Seven effort against the Cards in '06 (and cruelly, after a fantastic catch, not scoring) in mind when he goes on three days rest tomorrow. I did see a few key moments. JS getting out of a bases loaded situation, even the announcers [who sometimes are a bit too neutral, too concerned with passionately calling things that go against the Mets ... not just of the "great play" variety, which honestly I can't be too passionate about at the moment] struggling pitch by pitch. And, him kissing and then tossing the game ball into the stands. This is why, though they drive me nuts and disappoint, I still watch.
That and not getting YES, the Yankee station, and finding their key announcers a bit annoying. A word about them. A lot has been said about how poorly they played this season, lots deserved. But, let's be fair. They say you can't use injuries to defend you, since they are natural to the game. Come on -- your ace and new budding ace are knocked out (the former in May), your promising prospect is hurt, your catcher and team leader is hurt, your other team leader and team a-hole (third base) are hurt for some weeks, and so on. And, they still -- without the miraculous Rays -- would have been in the thick of the Wild Card race today.
Not bad, even without all the drama with a new manager (Joe Torre has returned to the post-season with the Dodgers -- that's just too rich) and so forth. Anyway, predictions. I think the Rays have a real shot to get to the second round, though Kazmir is slipping of late. A Cubs/Dodgers second round seems quite possible, though the latter has enough imperfections to not make that a gimmee. The Angels are a safe bet, the Red Sox having some holes. An Cubs or Dodgers / Angels World Series seems to me a good bet as well.
As for the Mets, let's hope they have some '99 magic (and luck vis-a-vis their competition). I also find it unfair that if there is a three way tie (not that I think there will be), the division doesn't go to the one with a best record. This helps the Mets here, but in general, seems to be a fair move -- if you play a team around eighteen games and win the season series, why should it only matter if there are just two teams tied (aka the loser gets to be the WC)? In fact, with each team playing outside division teams on average six times, that too should decide tie breakers, if possible. Shouldn't winning the series mean something?
Anyway, the NL East (for the moment) and Wild Card as well as the AL Central (which might be decided Monday because of a make-up game played by the Sox) are still up in the air, which makes for good baseball. In particular, in the final days of Shea. Oh, the Rays manager might be a favorite for manager of the year, but Jerry Manuel deserves a serious look for NL. The guy's the new Torre of NY, surely when facing the media. And, let's see Joe deal with the Yanks without Mariano!
And, get that man a contract extension! What's with the four (four!) years for the GM? He deserves some blame for their struggles. The four years for that singles hitting ailing second baseman alone should knock a year off that reported contract extension! One (or two) more games ...