GAME 115: BRAVES @ METS — After Braves Ruin Santana’s Return, Serious Questions, as Mets Try to Avoid Sweep on National TV

Well, Johan Santana’s 15 straight scoreless against the Braves at CitiField came to a fast and furious end last night. Five minutes in.  Freddie Freeman’s, 2-out, 2-run double in the first took care of that.

Fifteen minutes in, Santana was reduced to disconsolate spectator on the bench — helplessly watching Freeman’s towering 3-run blast off emergency-reliever Jeremy Hefner sail high over The Apple in center and close the book on Santana’s briefest appearance in the bigs. One and a third innings, eight earned runs, and a million discouraged Mets fans, give or take.

Actually, this latest alarming result matched another start this year in which Santana was able to record only four outs — also against the Braves, at Turner Field in April. But, this time, it was a Saturday Night Welcome Back Fiesta in front of home fans desperate for him to resume his spot atop the rotation, and the embarrassing early exit had to sting the proud lefthander.

Even if you were fortunate enough to have spent your Saturday evening in happier pursuits, you’ve all seen or heard the ghastly numbers by now.

Johan is now 3-6 with a 7.98 ERA in 9 starts since the no-no. Stingy with hits, but bitten (hard) by the HR bug in June, then battered to the tune of a .452 BAA for the month of July. Prior to June 1, Santana’s ERA stood at a sparkling 2.38; for June-July, it ballooned to 6.54. Over the same timeframe, opponents’ feeble .568 OPS surged to a robust .937!

And, that was all before last night’s Death by Tetanus Infection (rust can be really bad for you, look it up). Johan now shares the dubious distinction with Al Leiter and Pedro Astacio as the only Mets to give up 6 or more earned runs (7, 6, 6, and 8) in 4 straight starts.

The disastrous evening only served to ratchet up raging speculation that Santana is (and has been) trying to pitch through undisclosed discomfort or re-injury to his surgically-repaired left shoulder.

And, for those who missed last night’s game thread, I’m reprinting the latest, best example of just how much hotter it’s gonna get in the pitchers’ kitchen, if he doesn’t quiet all this negative chatter with a reassuring outing next Friday in DC.

Last night, our old friend Howard Johnson decided the world really needed HIS take on Johan, because, well, y’know, HoJo is usually the first person baseball people want to hear from when they need an expert opinion on pitching. Um, I mean, hitting. Aahhh, wait, no, ranching …..

But, seriously — before last night’s final out had even been recorded — this is what actually exploded all over the Twitterverse, straight from the horse’s (insert orifice of choice here) — and, forgive the Sunday sloth, but here’s the text of my entire comment, all cut & pasty like:

Whoa. Never one to miss a chance to kick his old team when they’re down and keep his name in the air at the same time, here’s the 2012 episode of “How NOT to Get Another Job in MLB,” by Howard Johnson:

“They’ll never admit it but Johan is not healthy and hasn’t been for awhile. I think arm. More of a hunch. When you’re healthy it’s effortless — don’t feel like you have to overthrow or work as hard to get the velocity. I know through my own experience, plus seen a lot of players go through it and it’s very difficult to deal with.” 

Thanks Haji. Always nice to hear from you.

Afterward, both Santana and Terry Collins insisted that Santana is fine, attributing his lack of command to rust. Once cleared to begin rehab from the “ankle” injury, Santana threw only three innings in Brooklyn in preparation for last night’s return. So, on the surface, a plausible cause. But ……

Is this new management really so sensitive to media and fan criticism of the Mets’ recent poor play that they rushed their ace back before he was ready, only to expose him to a humiliating undressing by the potent Braves offense? Just to squeeze one more start out of him in the Dog Days? Why not give Jeremy Hefner one more go, after his more than respectable work filling in since Santana went to the DL? What was the ginormous hurry to get Johan back in front of the home crowd on a Saturday night — in the midst of yet another hugely disappointing homestand — before the Mets hit the road again next ……… ohh, umm, never mind (facepalm!).

But if Santana’s “low energy” — ostensibly caused by overcompensating for the ankle problem — led to the worst 3-week stretch of his proud career and “rest” was the remedy, then after this rest, why risk sending him back out there before he was completely MLB-ready? Until they were 110% certain that their most expensive asset had regained his command, before throwing him to the wolves?

We can never know what’s really happening in that clubhouse. The velocity was there last night, so I’m giving Terry and Johan the benefit of the doubt — today. But their explanation will suffice for approximately two more weeks, after which they can’t play the rust card anymore.

Let’s hope that, by then, Johan is Johan again, and can at least get back on track for next year, or TC’s gonna be the one to take the fall. After all, Johan’s still got $31 million guaranteed coming to him ($25 mm salary plus $6 buyout of 2014 option) and Terry’s just the custodian. Sandy’s not gonna fire himself if that asset got damaged again because of a well-meaning manager’s or PC’s inability to keep their star pitcher on a leash until he was really healthy enough to pitch without any predictable, avoidable, setbacks.

WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK IS REALLY GOING ON HERE?

Oh, and HoJo — Shut The Front Door.

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Jon Niese (8-6, 3.82 ERA) tries to slow down the resurrected Ben Sheets (4-1, 1.41) whom EVERYONE (Hi Sandy!) could have had cheap, a couple months ago when he was still unemployed. The Mets try to avoid another sweep at the hands of the Braves — for the second time in a month.

ESPN has the coverage tonight, so be prepared for an extended babblefest about the Mets nosedive since the ASG and their current malaise, because we all know that sells in the heartland even better than a deeper examination of Chipper Jones’ favorite BBQ recipes

Start time is 8pm. First pitch is another matter (allowing for the usual excess of Disney’s never-ending parade of spots and sidebars promoting .. Disney).

Best guess: 8:22pm.

I usually set the DVR to record these games, then skip all the ESPN noise and go straight to the first pitch. But, don’t dawdle, or you might miss the obligatory 2-run homer in the top of the first.

Let’s Go Mets!