HELLO AGAIN: With yesterday’s rainout, the Mets pushed Johan Santana’s next start to tomorrow when he will face Jose Reyes in his return to Citi Field. (
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With yesterday’s rainout, the Mets will start Miguel Batista and Dillon Gee in a single-admission doubleheader today at 4:10 p.m. And while Johan Santana said he couldn’t wait to get back on the mound after a career-worst outing last Tuesday, he will have to wait yet another day after being pushed back to tomorrow against the Marlins.
Batista will spot-start against Giants ace Tim Lincecum, and Gee will face Madison Bumgarner in tonight’s nightcap. That keeps the Mets from having to scramble for a spot starter Friday in Denver, their rotation in order and gives Santana an extra day to fine-tune after lasting just 1 1/3 innings in Atlanta.
“It’s about the entire staff,’’ said manager Terry Collins. “We talked all spring about making sure we keep our five starters in sync, and … we end up getting them out of sync if we don’t match somebody up. We talked to Johan and he was on board with it.
“He said the worst thing we can do is [mess] up everybody else, so we decided to go that way. … [Johan’s] thrown two bullpens this week, due to the short outing the other day. There’s nothing wrong with giving him another day. We certainly think it’ll only help him work on some other things.’’
Santana is coming off the shortest start of his career, retiring just four Braves while getting raked for six runs — four earned — and failing to record a single strikeout. It was a game that left Santana feeling “angry,’’ in Collins’ words.
“I wanted to pitch the next day after that start, put it that way,’’ said Santana (0-2, 3.97 ERA). “But that’s not the way it is. It was just a bad outing, that’s all it is. You just put it [behind you] and hope the next one you can bounce back and do better.’’
Santana insisted “there’s nothing wrong” and his shoulder is fine. His velocity backs that up, implying the short outing was an isolated hiccup in his recovery road.
“That’s definitely not the way you wanted to do it. I definitely want to help and go deeper in the game. I’m still working my way back to go deeper into the games,’’ said Santana. “They want to make sure everything’s fine and I don’t put too much pressure on my shoulder, which is understandable; [but] I want to compete. They’re watching from the outside, so they’re able to tell and know when to stop.
“My biggest thing [is] just to be around and be part of this team and do all the things that we used to do. It means the whole world to me. … Whatever it takes, however I can help, I’ll do it. I’m going to have good days, I’m going to have bad days. But the good thing is I’m here and … I’m still putting things together.’’
Santana not only puts the rest of the rotation in their natural spots, but provides leadership, even indirectly, as he did when Gee and Mike Pelfrey came out to watch Santana and R.A. Dickey throw a bullpen session.
“They were out in the bullpen watching him. I think that says a lot. Johan threw a side, Dickey threw a side, and there was Dillon Gee and Mike Pelfrey standing out there [watching] … it sends a huge message,’’ said Collins. “Our starting pitching has been very, very good. Johan has a lot to do with that.
“We’ve put guys in positions where they feel comfortable and the result is they pitch very good,” Collins said. “As we go down the road, Johan’s still going to have a lot to do with the success of our staff because they feed off each other.’’