The following article was written by Devon Jeffreys:
This time it was different.
This time it was Johan.
With his 134th pitch on a stormy Friday evening in Queens, Johan Santana ended our long nightmare. Johan Santana, New York Met, threw a no-hitter.
For a franchise that has had greats like Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Jerry Koosman, Dwight Gooden, Pedro Martinez and so many more I’m sure I’ve missed, this was a long-time coming. The lack of a franchise no-hitter, while those who had played for the Mets tossed them around the league — Phillip Humber of the White Sox, ironically traded by the Mets for Johan Santana, was just the latest — had become comical.
But there was nothing funny about what happened tonight. It was pure emotion. Pure heart and soul. Pure, SMOOTH, Johan Santana.
Santana hit his bumps. He uncharacteristically walked five batters on the evening, including two in a 24-pitch second inning that would come back to complicate his pitch count late in the game. But there was no mistaking the fact that he was rolling. Some of the walks even seemed intentional, as if Johan knew who he wanted to attack and who he wanted to strand on base. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was exactly the case.
But when the game came down to the wire, there was no getting the ball out of his hands and he finished it in a way that only he can, with a devastating changeup making David Freese, reigning World Series MVP, look oh so foolish on a strikeout. The nightmare was over. Josh Thole — catching his first game since returning from a concussion — ran out to the mound and jumped into Santana’s arms. After 50 years, after 8,019 games, the New York Mets have their no-hitter.
After working through a 17-pitch first and a 24-pitch second, Johan’s pace seemed to quicken. He got St. Louis 1-2-3 in the third on nine pitches. Matt Holliday led off the fourth with a six-pitch walk — one of those at-bats where it just seemed Johan had no interest in pitching to him. He retired the next three hitters on six pitches.
The Mets struck first off Wainwright in the fourth, first breaking the ice with the first hit of the game and subsequently pushing across the game’s first two runs. Kirk Nieuwenhuis led it off with a three-hop single up the middle that bounced off the second base bag and up the arm of Rafael Furcal, who had no chance to throw the speedy Kirk out.
With Kirk on first and nobody out, David Wright jumped on the first pitch from Wainwright and crushed a long drive to right-center that Beltran overran. The ball ended up over Beltran’s head and one-hopped the wall as Nieuwenhuis stopped at third and Wright cruised in with a double. On the very next pitch, Lucas Duda brought home Nieuwenhuis with a sacrifice fly. By that point the Mets had gotten the memo to attack Wainwright’s first pitch and Daniel Murphy came out of his shoes on the next offering, blasting a triple in the gap to score Wright with the second run.
The lead now in hand, Johan again pitched around the leadoff man in the fifth, walking rookie Matt Adams on four pitches. Just 13 pitches later, he was out of the inning, having struck out Tyler Green and Wainwright before getting Furcal to line out to left.
The no-no was nearly no more in the sixth — and honestly should have been. Beltran lined Santana’s second pitch of the inning down the line over third. The smash was ruled foul — but upon replay review by those watching at home, clearly kicked up a fair amount of chalk along the line. Umpire Adrian Johnson stuck with his call and Beltran bounced out to third on the next pitch. Santana needed 11 more pitches to get through the inning and entered the seventh at 93 pitches.
New York tacked on three more against Wainwright in the sixth. Again it was Nieuwenhuis getting it started with a single to right. After seeing just two pitches total in his first two at-bats Wright dueled with Wainwright for eight, fouling off two 3-2 pitches before drawing a walk. Lucas Duda followed by crushing one — wind be damned — into the bullpen, a three-run blast that gave the Mets a 5-0 lead.
It was more than enough for Santana. The final formality was the no-no. It almost came to an end again with one out in the seventh. Yadier Molina sent a shot to the warning track in left that Mike Baxter ran down and somehow caught before crashing into the wall. It’s a catch Mets fans will remember forever. Baxter — a lifelong Mets fan himself from Whitestone— certainly will too. He suffered a shoulder injury on the play and his status going forth is up in the air. But he’s a folk hero from here out in Flushing.
Santana got the next batter, Adams, on five pitches and we rolled into the seventh with Santana — at 107 pitches — due up second. There was some doubt whether the Mets’ $100 million man — coming off a shoulder surgery few pitchers come back from — would hit for himself. But there was none for Santana, who would later say that there was nothing that would have gotten him out of the game.
The bottom of the seventh was a long one for the Mets as they pushed across three more runs thanks to three walks and two singles in the inning. Run support, once a problem for Santana this season, has not been his last two starts. He’s been backed by 17 runs over two complete game efforts.
In the top of the eighth, Santana recorded the first two outs before walking Furcal, another of the unintentional intentional variety. Beltran followed with a pop up on the infield that Murphy snagged to put Santana three outs from history.
First he would have to hit again. Due to bat third in the ninth, Santana popped out of the dugout to a standing ovation. But he never took a hack, working a 3-2 count before striking out looking. His focus was singular. He had something to finish.
He did just that in the ninth, retiring Holliday and Allen Craig, then tossing three balls to David Freese before coming back to strike him out on pitch 134, that patented changeup, to send Citi Field into hysterics.
Moments of Note:
For most of tonight’s game, I couldn’t shake the déjà vu feeling from Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. Of course the contrast is obvious: tonight was just game 52 in a 162 game season. Game 7 in 2006 meant so much more.
But the scene had already been set and my mind was racing: Mets vs. Cardinals in Flushing, add in the return of Carlos Beltran to Citi Field on the day that Adam Wainwright pitched and you’ve got a lot of nostalgia. Then Mike Baxter made the heroic late-inning catch on a fly to left field, off the bat of ’06 Game 7 nemesis Yadier Molina. I couldn’t shake it.
That night in 2006, after Envy Chavez robbed Scott Rolen of a homer to left at Shea Stadium, I sat in a chair at my apartment in St. Augustine, Florida and called my dad. I told him it was going to happen. I told him there was no way we were going to lose. Our Mets were going to the World Series. If you’re reading this you know how that turned out. This time it was different. It did happen and I was sitting right next to my pop for it.
Game Ball: Who else? The man who ended the 8,019-game drought, Mr. Johan Santana. He pitched nine beautiful innings, allowing of course no runs, on no hits. He walked five and struck out eight on a night that will live forever in Mets history.
After the game I was filled with emotion. I took to Twitter and sent a message to Johan. If tonight means as much to you as it did to me, I encourage you to tell Johan yourselves @JohanSantana.
Turning Point: Back on February 2, 2008, Mets General Manager Omar Minaya sent a package of four prospects (Deolis Guerra, Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber and Kevin Mulvey) to the Minnesota Twins for Johan Santana. Pretty pretty good deal, Omar.
Next Game: Does there really have to be a next? Can’t we just savor this one for a little while? Not even 24 hours? Damn. Well the Mets will be back in action tomorrow, led into battle by our fearless Jedi knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (7-1, 3.06 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 61 K) in the second game of a four-game set. Dickey will be opposed by St. Louis’ Lance Lynn (8-1, 2.54 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 60 K). First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. and the game can be seen on WPIX or heard, as always, on WFAN 660 AM.
