Jerry Manuel hated to be coming out of the dugout. After all, the thinning crowd was booing in anticipation that he was going to lift Johan Santana; one out, two on in the ninth.
Francisco Rodriguez was warming, and these days neither the home crowd nor the Mets manager can feel particularly confident about entrusting a game to the incendiary closer.
But it was more than that for Manuel. Jason Bay had just dropped a fly ball to assure the tying run would come up, and in Manuel’s way of thinking he hated to lift a pitcher for something beyond the pitcher’s control, like Bay’s first error of the season.
Still, Santana was at 111 pitches, and Manuel was not just going to leave him in out of guilt, sympathy or desire to win a popularity contest at Citi Field. He needed convincing, and Santana did that in one sentence that sent Manuel back to the home dugout and elated the crowd:
“I’ll finish it,” Santana told Manuel.
And he did.
He threw two more pitches and got outs on both. The Mets won 3-0, and Santana had his first complete game since Game 161 of the 2008 season, when he kept the Mets’ futile playoff hopes alive for one more day with a three-hit shutout of the Marlins.
In this three-hit shutout, Santana covered for all transgressions of his team. After Ruben Tejada missed a sign and was thrown out stealing with one out in the third, Santana had the Mets’ best at-bat of this night, a 12-pitch tussle against Matt Maloney that ended in Santana’s first career homer that made sure he had enough runs to win: One.
He did not let Bay’s error turn into unearned runs. And he kept the bullpen door shut and the Mets’ overtaxed, dubious relief corps on the other side.
The Mets can only hope this was a statement game beyond: “I’ll finish it.” That this is about finishing a season strong now, being the ace of this staff on more than reputation, pedigree and history.
Maybe the Mets get Cliff Lee, but probably not. Maybe R.A. Dickey is Cinderella all year. Maybe Mike Pelfrey is just taken a temporary stumble en route to 18 wins.
But no matter what else happens in the rotation, everything around the wild-card-leading Mets goes better if Santana resembles his vintage self.
He is 61-19 lifetime with a 2.73 in the second half, and his first two starts this July — one run, nine hits, 16 innings — is more than encouraging of what could be coming after the All-Star break. So is the return of a fastball that was back in the low-90s.
His speed and confidence both rose, enabling Santana to attack the zone and throw strike one to 28 of 34 hitters against the NL’s highest-scoring team. And the additional mileage provided greater diversity and mystery to his changeup.
“I am throwing my fastball much better,” Santana said. “And that makes my other pitches better.”
This had been the hope after offseason surgery, that Santana would build arm strength and become more of a force as the season went on. But there have been detours. There had been concern he was tipping pitches, leading to a change in the positioning of his glove to better hide his intent.
There had been the revelation that he was investigated for sexual battery last October in Florida, putting into question if he was distracted by hits to his personal life and reputation. And there had been plenty of non-support from his team.
Santana had not earned a win five times this year when working at least seven innings and yielding one or no runs, which was two more times than any other pitcher in the majors. That is why the joke circled the dugout that he now had his run, when Santana homered in the third.
The Mets would score twice more in the sixth, more than enough on a night when Santana’s statement was: “I’ll finish it.”
That was about the game. The Mets need the rest of the season, as well.