THEY are angriest of fans here these days at Shea Sta dium. They had their hearts ripped out last year by The Collapse.
So when Johan Santana gave up three long home runs yesterday in his Shea debut as a Met in a 5-3 loss to the Beltin’ Brewers, he was hit with a chorus of boos by the crowd of 54,701 before he jogged off the field.
Welcome to New York, Johan.
When I asked Santana after the game if he had ever gotten that type of reaction from Minnesota fans, he calmly offered this honest answer: “If they boo, that’s fine. That’s the history they got from not being so good, I guess.”
That’s telling it like it is. It is now Santana’s job to make the Mets good. After three starts he is 1-2, but his ERA is 3.05. The Mets have scored four runs in his two losses.
The Mets haven’t won the World Series since 1986, back when Santana was seven years old. Santana is supposed to be the savior and the Mets paid dearly for his Cy Young services. Monster contracts are always followed by monster expectations, especially in the Big Apple.
Fans will react; especially angry fans who have been booing the Mets at every negative turn during this opening homestand.
Santana wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t an ace, either. If this is the best Santana can do, it’s going to be a long, long year, perhaps as long as the three home runs he surrendered. If you are the kind who believes in omens, the fact that the third home run of the afternoon was hit by Gabe Kapler, the ultimate gamer who retired to manage in the Boston farm system last year, this loss does not bode well for Santana.
Over 62/3 innings against Santana, the Brewers hit as many home runs as the Mets had hit the entire season up until that point. Santana surrendered an AL-high 33 home runs last year.
The Mets have some early problems to work through.
Santana will get better. He owns a 94-46 career record, though he is 16-15 since the start of the 2007 season.
The Brewers are 4-0 against left-handers. There was little room for error for Santana be cause he was matched up against Ben Sheets, Milwaukee’s ace. Sheets, after struggling in the first inning, giving up two runs and getting out of a bases-loaded jam to end the second, was magnificent, at one point retiring 18 straight batters.
Sheets, who is a free agent after the season and could wind up in the Yankees rotation next year, said his game plan was simple after that first inning.
“Don’t give up no more,” he explained.
There are lots of Mets to boo in these early days of the season. David Wright committed two errors before hitting a solo home run in the eighth, ending Sheets’ domination. Sheets then walked Carlos Beltran and was pulled. The Mets had life, but Carlos Delgado, representing the tying run, bounced back to side-winding lefty reliever Brian Shouse. More boos.
Jose Reyes sat again with a strained left hamstring and the Mets’ offense was limited.
Santana was erratic the first two innings, needing 45 pitches to gather six outs. A Wright throwing error allowed Corey Hart to reach first leading off the second. Santana walked No. 7 hitter J.J. Hardy, who could be considered the No. 8 hitter because he bats in front of the pitcher whenever Jason Kendall catches and bats ninth.
Hart moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Sheets’ sacrifice bunt. Hart caught the Mets sleeping, showing a lack of communication. The bunt was toward third and Hart followed Wright down the line. Santana picked up the ball and was not directed to check the runner. Hart broke for home as soon as Santana threw to first, a Little League mistake.
From that point on it was the long ball that killed Santana. Bill Hall connected to lead off the fourth. In the fifth, Rickie Weeks crushed a 425-foot solo shot to left and then came Kapler’s two-run blast in the seventh.
Then came the boos. Welcome to New York, Johan.