Johan Santana Takes the Hill With First Place on the Line

    When the Mets traded for and signed Johan Santana in January, tonight's game was exactly what they had in mind.  The ace will take the mound tonight at Shea to face the Phillies, who are tied with the Mets atop the National League East.  Tonight would be a perfect situation for the type of start Mets fans are itching for out of Santana.  Overall, despite his 3.10 ERA, Santana's season has been a disappointment to this point.  His 8-7 record is mediocre, his strikeout rate is down, his batting average against is up, and his solid ERA is also misleading in that it does not reflect the grand slam he allowed to pitcher Felix Hernandez of the Mariners.  Santana has only pitched into the eighth inning once this season, and Duaner Sanchez ultimately blew that game in the ninth.  Tonight is an opportunity for Santana to turn his sub-par season around, and show Mets fans that he is worth his exhorbitant contract

    Santana will be opposed by the Phillies' newest acquisition, Joe Blanton, who has beaten the Mets in each of his two career starts against them, without allowing a run.  Blanton was just 5-12 with Oakland this season but, like Santana, had been the victim of poor run support.

    Billy Wagner had an MRI on his left shoulder today.  It revealed a muscle spasm, and he is considered day-to-day, although GM Omar Minaya said Wagner is available to pitch tonight.  While it is good news that this is something Wagner can pitch through, hopefully without any problems (he did strike out the side Sunday night despite experiencing discomfort), the possibility that Wagner may go down with an injury is alarming.  Although it is easy to bring up Wagner's six blown saves and poor performance at times, the Mets frankly don't have anyone else on the team who can close.  Mets relievers not named Billy Wagner have a total of 24 career saves combined, which equals Wagner's total so far this year.  And moving any of the middle relievers (most likely Sanchez) into the ninth inning role would significantly weaken the bridge in the seventh and eighth.

Around The League

    Amidst rumors that he might be dealt to a contender, Randy Wolf was traded to the Houston Astros earlier today.  This comes as a surprise, as a variety of teams such as the Phillies, Yankees and Dodgers, had been rumored to be interested.  Houston is 10 games out of a playoff spot, so it does not seem realistic that they should be on the buyer side of the trade deadline market.  In addition, Wolf's numbers this season are markedly better within the acreage of PetCo Park, so a shift to the hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park does not bode well for his performance.

    The Diamondbacks also made a deal today, acquiring reliever Jon Rauch from Washington in return for second baseman Emilio Bonifacio.  Injuries (and poor performance) have decimated Arizona's bullpen lately so the dependable Rauch will be a welcome addition; Rauch led the NL with 88 appearances last year, and was second with 85 in 2006.  Bonifacio was a decent hitter and fielder in the minor leagues, but he lacks power and struck out a lot.  His real value is in his baserunning, as he stole 229 bases in parts of six minor league seasons.

    The Twins and Yankees face off tonight at The Stadium in a battle between two teams in very similar positions in the standings.  New York is 4.5 games out of first place in the AL East and Minnesota is just a half game behind the White Sox in the Central.  Both teams chase the Red Sox in the Wild Card race.  Minnesota is two games back of Boston and one up on the Yankees.  The Twins have been rumored to be interested in a power-hitting third baseman, such as Adrian Beltre of the Seattle Mariners, but those talks have supposedly cooled off.  Minnesota is looking to move a starting pitcher in any potential deal, in order to make room for Francisco Liriano, who is healthy at long last, and tearing up Triple-A.  The Yankees have been beleaguered by a plethora of injuries, and are in the market for an outfield bat, a starting pitcher and a left-handed reliever.  It is doubtful that they will trade Ian Kennedy or Phil Hughes in any potential deal, considering they chose not to move either young arm in return for Johan Santana in the winter.

    Randy Johnson outdueled Rich Harden last night in Arizona, throwing seven shutout innings for a 2-0 victory.  Harden allowed just one hit through seven, but it was the big blow--Alex Romero's first career home run.  Harden struck out ten in the game, but took the tough luck loss to fall to 0-1 since being traded to the Cubs.  Chicago leads both Milwaukee and St. Louis by two games in the NL Central, and Arizona climbed to 49-50, good enough for first place in the West. 

Baseball History Tidbit of the Week

JULY  2, 1963  MILWAUKEE BRAVES 0, SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 1

    It was a different time.  A time before steroids, before designated hitters, before Ruth was dethroned, before batters wore body armor, and most of all, before pitch counts.  I wasn't there, and I only wish I was, because the game that took place between the Braves and Giants on July 2, 1963 was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and something that will never happen again.

    I can only imagine the clueless anticipation in the minds of the 15.921 fans on hand at Candlestick Park that afternoon, as they craned their necks to watch two future Hall-of-Famers take their warm-up tosses in their respective bullpens.  Warren Spahn, the crafty veteran, the 42-year-old former Cy Young Award winner and World Series champion, who had been everywhere and done everything, had seen Babe Ruth out-homer entire teams, had kept tabs on Joe DiMaggio's hit streak, and had out-dueled countless contenders.  Juan Marichal, the spry, young 25-year-old up-and-comer, who had pitched his way out of the Dominican Republic, had brushed back many a slugger, backed down to no one, and struck out more hitters than he could count.  Spahn and Marichal:  separated by a generation, a life experience, and two chalk lines--but linked forever by the interminable will they each portrayed on that summer day.

    When Milwaukee's left fielder, Lee Maye popped out to first to lead off the game, the marathon had begun, but no one knew it yet.  No one knew that when the Giants went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first, that would be just the first of eight times Spahn would coax them into doing so.  No one knew that when the Braves stranded catcher Del Crandall on second base in the top of the second, that would be just the first of six such exercises of futility against Marichal and his nearly vertical leg kick.  And no one knew that when Willie Mays threw Norm Larker out at the plate in the top of the fourth, that was the closest anyone would come to reaching that holy grail of destinations until the Say Hey Kid, himself, decided it should be so.

     But he would not make that decision for awhile, as the two aces dueled, unwavering and unrelenting, matching one another zero for zero on the ominous scoreboard, until both frustrated offenses began to resort to strategy.  Denis Menke singled and stole second with one out in the sixth, but was stranded right where he stood by the Dominican Dandy.  Crandall singled leading off the seventh, but was caught stealing by catcher Ed Bailey, and the chess match continued.  Back-to-back singles by Orlando Cepeda and Bailey in the bottom of the inning forced manager Alvin Dark's hand, and he used Jim Davenport to pinch hit for Jose Pagan, hoping to break the scoreless tie.  But the wily Spahn would not abate, and retired Davenport on a fly to center.

    The stalemate continued beyond the ninth inning, and neither starting pitcher showed signs of slowing down.  Marichal mowed down fifteen straight Braves between the eighth and 13th, but Spahn was just as stingy, allowing just one baserunner (whom he picked off first base) in extra innings until the 14th.  Larker earned just the fourth walk of the game with one out in the top of the 14th, and manager Bobby Bragan turned to his bench for assistance.  But Marichal struck out pinch hitter Don Dillard and retired Crandall to end the danger.  The Giants mounted a threat of their own in the bottom of the 14th, as Harvey Keunn led off with a double.  Spahn then issued his only walk of the game, an intentional pass to Willie Mays.  Willie McCovey fouled out and Felipe Alou flied to center, but Spahny wasn't out of the woods just yet.  Cepeda reached on an error to load the bases, but Spahn escaped on a flyout by Bailey.

    Spahn may have wavered, but he had not finished working yet.  He had started the game and hadn't yet allowed a run, so he darn well wasn't going to leave the responsibility to someone else.  He took his turn to bat in the top of the 15th, and fouled out.  But not to be outdone, Marichal strolled to the dish in the bottom of the inning.  Spahn retired his counterpart on just his second strikeout of the game.  Menke singled with two outs in the top of the 16th, but Marichal slammed the door shut and left it up to his offense to try to break through.

    I can only imagine the perspiration forming on Spahn's palm as he gripped the ball, staring in at Del Crandall's signs in the bottom of the 16th.  The look of determination he maintained, and had been maintaining for over four hours now, as he watched Willie Mays stride to the plate with one out and the bases empty.  The possibilities racing through Mays' mind as he pondered what the man standing sixty feet, six inches away could be thinking of throwing in order to set him aside for the sixth time that day.  The cloud of dust swirling in the San Francisco Bay winds as Mays grabbed a handful of dirt to set his grip on the bat.  The grunt Spahn emitted as he released the fateful pitch toward the catcher's mitt, having dug deep into his aging body to muster the strength to retire the superstar in his prime.  The menacing look in Mays' brown eyes as he gritted his teeth and wrenched his bat through the zone, desperately trying to give his team a chance to defeat one of the best pitchers in the history of the game.  The fans who remained in the ballpark standing in applause, elation, relief, and jubilation as Willie Mays' walk-off home run soared through the summer sky, over the left field fence.  The celebration as the Giants mobbed Mays, the only man to rightfully touch home plate on that given day.  The pride both Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal felt then, and could continue to feel for the rest of their lives.  The two starters were from then on linked by the courage, perseverance, guile and will they had exhibited that day in finishing what they started, and separated only by the win and the loss.

*Statistical information and game logs derived from www.baseballreference.com.