Santana Saves the Day

Earlier in the season Johan Santana was criticized for not demanding to stay in and finish games, for not throwing much more than 100 pitches and basically for not winning games single-handedly. After begging Jerry Manuel to let him pitch yesterday, he came through with one of the greatest clutch performances in Mets history, leading the team to a 2-0 victory.

With the whole season on the line, he twirled a complete-game three-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking three. Pitching on three days rest, he followed up his career-high 125-pitch victorious effort on Tuesday night with a 117-pitch gem yesterday afternoon. He just seems to get better with every game. He’s the true definition of an ace, a stopper, whatever else you want to call it. Has he earned every cent of his contract so far? You bet. I’m just surprised he didn’t hit the game-winning home run as well.

Manuel shook up his lineup trying to jump-start his offense. They didn’t do a lot but it was just enough. Jose Reyes led off the first with a single, stole second and Carlos Beltran (batting second) singled him over to third. Third-place hitter Carlos Delgado then drove in Reyes with a sacrifice fly. It turned out that’s all the Mets would need. But they added one more run courtesy of unsung hero Ramon Martinez, who doubled in Daniel Murphy in the fourth. Does it seem like someone, somewhere sensed that the Mets were desperate for a second baseman so they air-lifted him down into Shea in the middle of Wednesday’s game and said “Here you go”? David Wright pitched in with two more outstanding defensive plays. He has one more game to try and break Mike Piazza’s franchise record for RBIs.

With the Brewers losing to the Cubs yesterday, a Mets win today at least guarantees they will play a one-game playoff tomorrow. Oliver Perez will take the mound this afternoon, pitching on three days rest. The last time he went on short rest was in game seven of the 2006 NLCS, when he threw a gem. He is 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA vs. Florida this season. Hopefully today’s game won’t be the last one ever at Shea.