Tag: Johan Santana

Mets Over Reds 2-1 Behind Daniel Murphy

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I would’ve thought that Johan Santana would be the story of opening day for the Mets but he wasn’t. The story was Daniel Murphy. He had both RBI’s in a 2-1 win over the Reds in Cincinnati. The weather was miserable with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees and a light rain falling to start the game.

Santana cruised through the first five innings only giving up one hit. That changed in the sixth inning when he gave up a couple of hits. Surprisingly, Mets manager Jerry Manuel pulled him from the game much earlier than I would have. Sean Green, J.J. Putz, and Francisco Rodriguez finished off the Reds in the last 3.1 innings without giving up a hit.

Murphy was all the offense that the Mets needed today. He hits solo shot to right field in the fifth inning off Aaron Harang and had an RBI ground out in the sixth.

Its a great way to start the season with the Mets revamped bullpen making us much more confident going into the late innings with a one run lead.

Box score

Mets Top Stories- 4.6.09

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I’m sure, like me, that many of you watched Derek Lowe and the Braves put the hammer down on the Phillies. Lowe threw eight shutout innings of 2-hit ball. Of course, the dreaded comparisons of Lowe and Oliver Perez are coming out already. Why didn’t the Mets sign Lowe instead of Perez? We already know why. Perez is nine years younger and costs $24 million less than Lowe.

Onto the top stories of the morning:

CBS Sports has a good recap of the opening night game the Phillies and Braves put on last night. Of course, Derek Lowe was masterful and Jordan Schafer hit a homer in his first major league at-bat. Who says kids shouldn’t do HGH?

Kevin McCarthy of Metsopolis writes a preview of the Reds-Mets series starting the season in Cincinnati.

Mets Prospect Hub posts the opening day roster for the 2009 Binghamton Mets.

Ben Shipgel of the New York Times writes about Johan Santana‘s increased comfort level with the Mets this season. He’s become more of a vocal leader with the departure of Pedro Martinez and is fitting in well in the locker room.

Sarah Green from Ump Bump has a good photo essay of her day at Citi Field on Saturday.

Darren Rovell of CNBC writes that the Citigroup executives will be conspicuously absent on opening day at Citi Field. They won’t be throwing out the first pitch as you would have expected a year ago. If they’re at the game at all, they’ll be hiding in their luxury boxes.

Mike Steffanos of Mike’s Mets writes the first part of his Key to the Mets for 2009 series. At the top of the list is the fact that the honeymoon is over for Jerry Manuel.

On Deck: April 6- Mets At Reds [Game 1]

Johan SantanaNew York Mets (0-0 Road: 0-0) vs. Cincinnati Reds (0-0 Home: 0-0) 1:10 pm

Johan Santana (0-0 0.00) vs. Aaron Harang (0-0 0.00)

TV: ESPN Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Mets and Reds get things started for the 2009 season with Johan Santana and Aaron Harang dueling. Harang is looking to rebound from a tough season last year and the Reds look to surprise the National League with their new, younger lineup. The Mets are looking to redeem themselves from two straight late-season failures.

Visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans.

Mets Oliver Perez Calms Pitching Fears

Oliver PerezOliver Perez was the talk of Mets camp since he put up a major stinker in his return from the World Baseball Classic. The big news is that pitching coach Dan Warthen called him out publicly as not being in proper shape to pitch. The message was misconstrued by some as Perez being overweight, but the message was that Perez didn’t keep his arm working during the three weeks he spent with team Mexico.

Yesterday he put the hammer down against the Orioles for 6.2 innings of one hit (and one walk) ball. Clearly, he got the message that the Mets coaching staff was trying to convey. Even Johan Santana spoke to Perez about improving his concentration and using the last week of spring training to get good results in the games he pitches in.

If Perez had another meltdown yesterday, it would have been time for Mets fans and the front office to have major concerns about the starting rotation. John Maine has been inconsistent this spring in his recovery from off-season shoulder surgery.  And Livan Hernandez is the current fifth starter after being waived last August by the Minnesota Twins. He’s looked solid this spring but the Mets coaches need to keep a very close eye on him as the season progresses.

I don’t think that we’ll ever describe Oliver Perez as consistent. But the Mets need him to be better than he has been this spring if the Mets are going to be serious contenders to knock the Phillies from their throne.

Johan Santana Spring Debut Looks Good

Johan SantanaJohan Santana took the mound for the first time this spring and looked pretty good doing it. He went 2.2 innings giving up three runs on four hits after throwing 47 pitches. He did give up a long home run to Dan Uggla to left field. But his pitches looked pretty sharp.

Santana’s fastball was in the low 90’s and his changeup was excellent as usual. There doesn’t appear to be any need to worry about the sore elbow that kept Santana on the sidelines for the first few weeks of the spring.

Oh, and by the way the Mets lost the game 16-8 after Tim Redding was torched again. More on the race to see who can lose the fifth starter spot in the rotation later.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia