Unofficial fan projectA New Home and Another Rebuild
Johan Santana
Starting pitcher · Mets 2008–2010, 2012
The part fans remember
What the numbers leave out.
Santana arrived as an ace and immediately pitched the Mets through the final weekend at Shea. Injuries shortened his run, but one night made it historic.
The Mets traded four prospects to Minnesota for Santana before 2008 and signed him to the largest contract ever given to a pitcher at the time. He arrived as a two-time Cy Young winner expected to push a talented team over the top. Santana did his part, leading the league with a 2.53 ERA while pitching through knee pain.
On the next-to-last day of that season, with the Mets facing elimination, he threw a three-hit shutout on short rest. The team lost the final game at Shea anyway, but the start showed exactly what an ace looks like. Shoulder surgery later cost him the entire 2011 season and left real questions about whether his best days were gone.
On June 1, 2012, Santana answered with the first no-hitter in Mets history. It took 134 pitches, a missed call on Carlos Beltrán’s line drive, and Mike Baxter crashing into the wall to preserve it. Santana was never fully healthy again, which makes the night both glorious and painful. Fans knew the price might be coming and still needed him to finish.
The honest version
The best stretch
Santana’s 2008–10 peak began with the exact performance the Mets bought an ace to provide. On the next-to-last day of 2008, with the club facing elimination, he pitched a three-hit shutout on short rest despite a knee problem that soon required surgery. Shea shook because fans understood that Santana had taken the season’s full weight and refused to hand it to the bullpen.
The part that got messy
Injuries kept the overall Mets career from matching the trade’s dreams, but June 1, 2012 gave it a permanent ending. Santana threw 134 pitches to complete the first no-hitter in franchise history. Carlos Beltrán’s disputed foul ball and Mike Baxter’s catch against the wall became part of the drama. After more than 8,000 Mets games without one, nobody in the ballpark wanted caution.
Why fans still care
That night likely cost Santana physically, and he was never the same pitcher afterward. The choice remains difficult and completely understandable. Fans had waited half a century, Santana wanted the ball, and Terry Collins allowed history to continue. His Mets years were brilliant and painfully brief, but they also gave fans two nights when an ace emptied the tank because the team needed him to finish.
Santana gave the Mets exactly what an ace is supposed to give them, even when his shoulder was already taking the cost. The shutout on short rest in 2008 kept the season alive for one more day. The no-hitter in 2012 erased a 50-year wait with 134 pitches, a chalk-line controversy, and one impossible catch by Mike Baxter. Fans knew the risk and wanted history anyway.
Signature Mets momentThrew the first no-hitter in Mets history on June 1, 2012.
The short list
The stuff worth remembering.
- 01First Mets no-hitter
- 022008 NL ERA leader
- 03Three Opening Day starts