What in the world is wrong with Johan Santana? Oh I know, he signed with the Mets. The Mets traded four of their top prospects and gave Johan Santana a 137 million dollar 7 year contract. He is now 7-6 after the Mets lost to the Mariners 5-2 last evening. This is certainly not what the Mets had in mind when they made the deal.

No question the second inning was a bit bizarre. After walking a batter and giving up a hit, with two outs David Wright made an error on a routine ground ball that should have ended the inning.  The next batter, the pitcher Felix Hernandez, on the first pitch he has seen all season hit an opposite field grand slam home run. How does this happen? Sorry, but Johan Santana has got to do a better job than that. This you would have expected from Oliver Perez, not Santana. He is supposed to be the Mets stopper. Since the Mets won on Sunday, you had to feel good that with Santana on the mound the Mets had a chance to end up on the right side of the .500 ledger.

So it’s a week later since Willie Randolph was let go. The Mets seem more relaxed and are playing a better quality of baseball. Yet the Mets went 3-3 since Omar brought in Jerry Manuel. When you see an inning like the second, maybe you just throw up your hands and think this is the best it’s going to get. I mean how can this team get on track and push to 10 games above .500?

For one, Johan Santana must start to pitch the way he is capable of pitching. Jerry Manuel pointed out in his post game conference that Johan’s line looked pretty good in that he only gave up 1 earned run. True but Santana was the one who gave up the walk, hit, and grand slam whether it was earned or not.

The other thing that needs to improve and was articulately pointed out by Manuel is the approach to hitting. Mets hitters do not work counts. They swing early and habitually chase balls out of the strike zone. It amazed me how quickly Mets hitters were getting themselves out in last night’s game while Mariner hitters made Santana throw a lot more pitchers. It’s one thing to be aggressive, its another to be smart and aggressive.

So once again the Mets find themselves a game under .500. To keep their streak of series wins intact will require wins tonight and tomorrow night. I keep thinking the Mets are going to turn the corner. I keep thinking that they will rattle off 5 or 6 wins in a row. But then it just doesn’t happen. For now the Mets remain the most expensive .500 team money can buy.

College World Series Update –

Eighth ranked University of Georgia scored 4 in the eighth and overtook Cinderella Fresno State in the first game of the College World Series finals. The best 2 of 3 final round continues this evening in Omaha Nebraska and can be seen on ESPN.

Citi Field Update -

Stadiumpage.com has some great new interior photos of Citi Field. The concrete is in place on the first base side of the lower seating bowl and many seats and railings have been in stalled on the upper level.

George 1937-2008