If Johan Santana demanded to be out there for the ninth inning of last night’s demoralizing loss to the Phillies, Jerry Manuel would not have stopped him.
The Mets interim manager talked about the much-criticized decision to pull Santana after eight innings and 105 pitches today on WFAN.
“If he would have been adamant about that I am sure I would have (let him pitch the ninth),” Manuel said.
The Mets led 5-2 and Manuel pinch hit for Santana with Argenis Reyes with one out and nobody on in the bottom half of the eighth. Mets closer Billy Wagner was unavailable with shoulder spasms, which forced Manuel to turn to Duaner Sanchez.
“We felt very good and very comfortable about the decision to take [Johan] out, and as I was trying to explain to some of the writers … we are just in an era where pitchers just don’t go nine innings,” Manuel said.
Santana, who has been criticized for not going deeper into games, said afterward he knew he was getting replaced in the Mets’ lineup. Manuel said he would have kept the ace in if he had retired Pat Burrell to end the top of the eighth, which would have put lefty Ryan Howard to lead off the ninth. But after Carlos Delgado nearly caught Burrell’s foul popup, he doubled to left field. Howard then flied out to center as Santana’s last batter.
“If he had gotten Burrell out then and had to start with Howard in the ninth then, yeah, I would have started with him,” Manuel said. “I would have felt he still had decent stuff.”
Sanchez allowed three singles to start the top of the ninth, and the Phillies rallied for six runs and an 8-6 win that broke a first-place tie in the NL East.
The teams play again at Shea Stadium tonight.