Yankees vs. Mets: Why Bombers Won't Be Johan Santana's Next Victim

The New York Yankees will welcome Johan Santana and the New York Mets on Friday to Yankee Stadium for the first game of the Subway Series, and it will be Santana's first start since his no-hitter on Friday, according to Wallace Matthews of ESPN.com.

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Johan Santana to make first start after no-hitter vs. Yanks Friday night

— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) June 4, 2012"

So can Santana have a repeat performance of his no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals?

It's doubtful. In fact, the best Santana could possibly hope for would be to make a quality start that gives his team a chance to win. After what he accomplished last time out, the Mets would be more than happy to get that from Santana.

According to Baseball-Almanac.com, Johnny Vander Meer is the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw two consecutive no-hitters. It's been 74 years since that happened in 1938, and it has yet to be matched since.

Chances are "No-han" won't be able to repeat his history-making start again in the Bronx.

Santana might also find it tough to even get far enough into the game to tie Vander Meer's incredible record.

The Bronx Bombers may be a home run-dependent offense, but they do take their fair share of pitches. Considering Santana's velocity isn't where it once was, he will have to hit his spots instead of going right after hitters if he wants to be successful.

St. Louis worked five walks against Santana, and if the Mets' ace wants to go deep into the game against the Yankees, he must have better control.

Santana might have gotten by nine innings in 134 pitches, but the Bombers could easily run his pitch count up that high by the seventh if they work counts the way the Yanks know how.

It'll be the biggest storyline of the weekend, but Santana throwing a no-hitter again will never happen. That being said, it'll be interesting to see if Santana can be dominant once again and if he can bounce back from such a tiring start in his last outing when he meets the Yankees on Friday night.