May 12 2009 07:39 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 12 2009 08:57 AM
Ben Shpigel lays into the Mets here .
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Braves Snap Mets’ Seven-Game Winning Streak
Imagine how perfect it could have been for the Mets: Derek Lowe pitching behind Johan Santana every fifth day, forming one of the best starting tandems in the league. It almost happened, too, at least until Lowe opted for more money, greater job security and, as he saw Monday night, a less penetrable infield.
Johan Santana arguing after hitting the Braves’ Casey Kotchman with a pitch in the sixth inning. Santana extended his streak without allowing an earned run to 19 1/3 innings.
There is little chance Lowe regrets his decision, not after seeing how shabbily the Mets treat their ace. Santana pitched superbly, again. The Mets could not score behind him, again. Their defense played poorly behind him, again. The only different aspect was the result, an 8-3 trouncing by the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field that ended the Mets’ winning streak at seven.
Santana has a 0.78 earned run average — the lowest in franchise history by a pitcher through his first seven starts — yet the Mets are 4-3 when he pitches. Wondering how? The Mets have scored 11 runs while he is pitching (15 total) and have made 7 of their 22 errors during his starts.
Two of those errors came Monday night, leading to five unearned runs. Four of the runs scored in the seventh inning, and all came after Santana left with one out. Pedro Feliciano allowed a pair of two-out two-run singles to let a once-alluring pitching duel deteriorate into a rout.
“When you put a team behind Santana we always first think defense,” Manager Jerry Manuel said. “We don’t think, Let’s match offense. We think, Give him the best chance defensively and we can scratch out a run. Obviously that hasn’t happened so far.”
Why the Mets (17-14) save their worst baseball for Santana, their best pitcher, is a question that, so far, they cannot answer. It is not as if he snubbed anyone in his pregame handshake routine or changed the music on the clubhouse stereo or anything. It is coincidence, nothing more. He said he was not frustrated, remarking that the Mets are still in first place in the division. But it still stings. Each of his losses has come after giving up two unearned runs.
“As far as I know, I think it’s the first time in my career that I’m losing a couple games without even getting an earned run,” said Santana, who has not allowed more than two runs since Aug. 27, 2008, a string of 13 starts. “I don’t think that ever happened before. It’s part of the game. With baseball, you never know.”
Perhaps not. But Santana, after watching an error from the inexperienced left fielder Daniel Murphy cause his first loss, April 12 at Florida, no doubt expects more from David Wright and Jose Reyes. In a 31-pitch first inning in which all three hits touched a Mets infielder, Wright waited too long on the third one, a slow roller by Matt Diaz, and bounced his throw to first baseman Fernando Tatis. The ball hit off his glove, and Yunel Escobar scored the first unearned run.
“It’s not because of lack of effort or lack of focus,” Wright said. “We want it badly. I can’t express how disappointed I am with me.”
Pitching without what he called good stuff, Santana still lasted into the seventh, when Kelly Johnson poked his 108th and final pitch into center field for a one-out single. Manuel called on Bobby Parnell, who allowed a single to Escobar, then retired Martin Prado.
Feliciano came in to face Brian McCann, whose slow grounder up the middle caromed off the heel of Reyes’s glove, loading the bases and extending the inning. Diaz and Casey Kotchman followed with two-run singles, and the Braves led, 5-1, which was more than enough for Lowe (5-1), who allowed two runs in six and two-thirds innings.
Around Queens, Lowe is known as the guy the Mets did not sign instead of Oliver Perez.
Without the financial flexibility last off-season to pursue starters like C. C. Sabathia or A. J. Burnett, the Mets focused on the next tier, which included Lowe and Perez. Lowe appealed to the Mets because of his durability, his consistency and, with the team unsure how Citi Field would play, his standing as one of baseball’s premier ground-ball specialists.
As much as the Mets wanted Lowe, their top target, they were adamant not to overpay for him or bid against themselves. They offered him a three-year, $36 million contract, which Lowe rejected. Smarting from signing Billy Wagner and Pedro Martinez to four-year deals, the Mets refused to add another season. The Braves, emboldened after John Smoltz bolted for the Red Sox, trumped the Mets’ bid by giving Lowe four years and $60 million, pushing the Mets’ interest toward Perez.
Perez had a dismal spring training and an even worse April, and was pulled from the rotation. He is now on the disabled list, rehabilitating his right knee in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Lowe, meanwhile, has 5 of the Braves’ 16 victories and is presumably happier than if he had to deal with the shoddy defense and minimal support that Santana receives.
Santana had the lowest E.R.A. in the majors last season, but a horrific bullpen cost him seven victories and, most likely, a Cy Young Award. More damaging, though, could be the effect on the team. The Mets have missed out on a playoff berth by one victory in each of the last two seasons, and they can only hope they will not regret winning a greater share of Santana’s starts so far.
“There will probably come a point,” Manuel said, “where you’ll think, Wow, we missed a lot of opportunities with Johan.”
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