With each home run he allows, with each ugly loss he suffers, it becomes easier to see and harder to deny: Johan Santana has been in a funk since his June no-hitter.
The longer his malaise lasts, the more concerning it becomes for the skidding Mets, who will meet today to figure out what to do about their struggling ace.
Santana allowed six runs for a third straight start, losing 7-6 loss to the Dodgers last night. His three-inning outing was the second-shortest of his career, and it wasn’t short enough for the 30,806 at Citi Field, who were calling for the hook long before that.
The left-hander allowed seven hits, including home runs by Matt Kemp and Luis Cruz, and a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk. Afterward, Santana (6-7) called it a slump, and manager Terry Collins talked about skipping a start. Collins also refused to rule out the disabled list.
It’s an ominous sign for a pitcher who has been downright poor since throwing a career-high 134 pitches in his June 1 no-hitter.
“That no-hitter stuff was a long time ago. I don’t think that has anything to do with it,” Santana said. “It’s just that I’m going through tough times. Call it a slump or whatever it is. I’m just going through tough times. That’s about it. I’m OK.
“I’m [just] not able to execute the way you’re supposed to. I’m not my best right now. I’m not executing my pitches, I’m not commanding the fastball.
“I’m just going through a tough time, that’s all it is. Call it whatever. They’ve been swinging the bat pretty good, but I’m not on my game right now, I think. I’ve just got to execute better pitches and command my fastball better, all my pitches, and compete. I’m not doing that right now. A couple times where I got behind in the count and threw the ball right there and they put good swings on it.’’
Santana had season-ending left shoulder in September 2010 and missed 2011. He bounced back this year, but since taxing himself in that no-hitter, he has been up-and-down, and his valleys are getting progressively and frighteningly lower by the start. He’s 3-5 with a 6.54 ERA in eight starts since throwing the first no-no in Mets history.
“We’re going to talk about alternatives, what we might try to do to see if we can get some energy back in his arm,” Collins said, adding the team will discuss pushing his next start back, skipping him or even the putting him on the disabled list. “He came out of the break, had eight days, pitched on the ninth day, and just hasn’t responded,’’
“Obviously when you talk about options, all those things will be brought up. Do you skip him one start? If you put him on the DL, you’re talking two starts. Certainly all those things are going to be talked about.’’
After falling to Aaron Harang (7-5), the Mets have lost seven of their last eight, and couldn’t rally out of the hole Santana dug. He allowed Kemp’s towering two-run shot and Jerry Hairston Jr.’s RBI single to make it 3-0. Cruz’s two-run homer in the third pushed it to 6-2 before Collins pulled him.
The Mets got an RBI double from Daniel Murphy (a career-high 4-for-5) in the fifth and Scott Hairston’s RBI single in the sixth to get within two. The Dodgers scored an insurance run in the seventh on Juan Rivera’s RBI single, and it proved crucial after Jordany Valdespin golfed Shawn Tolleson’s fastball out to left for a two-run homer, his club-record fourth pinch-hit homer of the year to cut it to 7-6.
Valdespin singled and took second on a throwing error to give the Mets hope with one out in the ninth, but Kenley Jansen fanned pinch-hitter Justin Turner with high heat, and Andres Torres popped up to short to end the game.