Wednesday’s game shaped up to be a classic pitching duel between one of the most dominant pitchers of his era, Johan Santana, and a young phenom, Stephen Strasburg, who may well carry the torch into the next era.
For the most part, it lived up to the hype. Both pitchers are coming off serious surgeries and, due to pitch limits, neither got past the sixth inning. But for flashes of the game, they were each dominant in their own way.
Santana went 5+ innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and three walks while striking out eight. But Strasburg was simply better. The 23-year-old went six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. He also issued three walks, but struck out nine.
Santana struggled with his control early. He threw 27 pitches in the first and only got out of the opening frame when Josh Thole gunned down Danny Espinosa trying to steal third. Santana’s wildness continued in the second, as he loaded the bases and then threw a wild pitch to Ian Desmond allowing Mark DeRosa, who had singled to lead off the inning, to score from third. Santana struck out Desmond — his fourth strikeout in the first two innings — to escape without further damage.
From there he went on to dominate, whiffing two more in the third and breezing through the fourth on just 11 pitches. In complete control, he needed just six pitches to get the first two outs of the fifth and he got around back-to-back hits from Desmond and Espinosa by retiring Zimmerman to end the threat.
The effective finish to the fifth earned Santana a shot at the sixth from manager Terry Collins, but he walked Jayson Werth to leadoff, forcing Collins to pull the plug. Manny Acosta went on to walk the next two hitters but escaped unscathed on a line drive double play and a pop out.
Acosta and Ramon Ramirez combined to load the bases again in the sixth and with the bases loaded Ramirez issued his second walk of the inning, forcing in Desmond with the game’s second run. The Nats tacked on a third run in the eighth and a fourth in the ninth — on another bases loaded walk — to put the game away. Mets pitchers walked 10 Nationals batters on the afternoon.
The support was plenty enough for Strasburg. After a shaky start, where he allowed a single to Ruben Tejada and a walk to Daniel Murphy, Strasburg had the Mets off balance for the rest of the game. Following the walk to Murphy, he retired 13 of the next 14 to face him and the only two to reach from the second through the fifth inning did so on a walk and a plunk.
The Mets offense mounted their first threat since the first in the sixth, but a tiring Strasburg was bailed out by home plate umpire Larry Vanover. With one out, Strasburg walked Duda, then allowed a single to Ike Davis — Ike’s first hit of the year — to put two on for Jason Bay. Bay didn’t come through, but it was no fault of his own this time. Vanover called two strikes on pitches well off the plate, the second so far off that Bay couldn’t have made contact with it if he opted to swing. See for yourself:
That's a strike????
Thole followed Bay’s strikeout with a fly out to end the inning. The Nationals bullpen picked up Strasburg with three scoreless innings of one-hit ball as the Mets bats went lifeless, allowing Washington to take the series two games to one.
Turning Point: The Bay/Vanover “strikeout” in the sixth was big, but there’s little chance Bay would’ve come through in that spot anyway. I’d have to say it was the first inning. The Mets put two men in scoring position with one out against a shaky Strasburg, but Davis couldn’t put the ball in play to break the ice and Bay grounded out to end the threat.
Game Ball: Ike Davis earned some consideration for finally getting off the schnide at the plate and a few defensive gems, but I can’t give it to anyone other than Johan Santana. He had me biting my nails early, but the last few innings were vintage Santana, using all his pitches effectively to retire 10 in a row at one point. He even blew a couple fastballs by Nats sluggers, even if they were clocked at 89. He deserved better than the L he takes home with him.
Next Game: The Mets take another day off on Thursday before beginning their first road trip of 2012 on Friday night in Philadelphia. RA Dickey (1-0, 3.00 ERA) will oppose Cliff Lee (0-0, 1.50 ERA) in the opener of a three-game set between the Mets (4-2) and Phillies (1-3). Friday’s game can be seen on SNY and heard, as always, on WFAN 660 AM. First pitch from Philly is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
