The New York Mets found themselves on the wrong end of another series sweep on Sunday, but this time it couldn’t have been too surprising; after all, their ace, Johan Santana, was pitching.
And if the Mets have done one thing consistently throughout this up-and-down season, it has been to take a day off when Santana goes to work.
How else to explain the disturbing lack of run support provided every fifth day?
The popular excuse right now is injuries, but the bats were sleeping far before the Mets mishandled the aches and pains of Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. In Santana’s five April starts, the team scored a high of four runs. That offensive explosion came against Scott Olsen and the Washington Nationals.
Hardly an accomplishment for the healthy and, on paper at least, loaded Mets.
Citi Field is another explanation. To hear David Wright and the rest of the lineup tell it, the stadium is a re-creation of Polo Grounds, its fences nearly unreachable by mere mortals.
But if that’s the case, those impossible dimensions must follow the Mets on the road. As of Sunday, the team had hit 24 home runs at other ballparks, compared to 26 hit over the supposed ocean of outfield in Flushing. Such offensive offense knows no borders.
On days Santana pitches, there are no automatic lineup changes. He faces opponents’ aces as frequently as their Nos. 2-5. Rain and sunshine do not set their schedules to Santana’s watch.
There simply is no tangible reason that the offensive well turns dry when Santana takes the hill.
In 17 starts, Santana is 9-7 with a 3.29 ERA. He dominated April, was similarly stellar in May and worked through blister-related command issues in June to rebound with a much needed ace performance on Sunday.
In those 17 starts, the Mets have scored 2.94 runs per game.
Behind the rest of the starters combined, New York averages 4.76 runs per game.
Hurt, healthy, home, away, it does not seem to matter if Santana is starting.
In his seven losses and one no-decision, the numbers are even more disturbing. New York produced, if it can even be called that, 12 total runs, or 1.7 per game. If provided with just three runs during those starts, Santana could have earned, at least, two more wins and three no-decisions.
All this is not to speculate on the unseen influences that seem to rule these games. There is no way to measure the heart, sense or urgency, or hustle employed when Santana takes his turn.
What it is evidence of, though, is the persistent excellence of Johan Santana. On a team so frequently, and deservedly, ridiculed for their apparent lack of caring, Santana rarely flinches. He routinely turns in in masterful performances, even if to no avail.
Santana has received the least support of everyone, yet still has 107 strikeouts, more than two times more than any other Met.
He has thrown 109.1 innings, a figure nearly identical to the 113.1 he recorded through his first 17 starts in ‘08. This despite receiving almost two runs per game of support less than last year and carrying a three inning, nine-run black mark versus the Yankees.
It is frustrating to watch and, surely, many times more frustrating for the hapless pitcher.
Yet Santana has remained classy through it all, returning to the mound each fifth day and keeping quiet during the other four. Only Sunday, after the Mets were blanked by the mediocre Joe Blanton, did any inkling of frustration leak out.
“I did everything I could, but they were better,” he said. “I was trying to give them a chance to win, but in the end it came down to a couple of pitches.”
Handed another loss, there is nothing for Santana to do but begin preparing for start number 18. Maybe this time the indebted Mets offense will hoist him onto their shoulders.
But don’t count on it.
Adam Cancryn is a guest writer for The Big Apple and the Burgh. He is a freelance journalist currently working for the Philadelphia Business Journal. A compilation of his published articles can be found here
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