Eight thousand twenty games, that’s all it took the collective New York Mets pitching staff over the last 50 years for one of their players to throw a no-hitter. But on Friday night, 27,069 fans witnessed history, as Johan Santana became the first Met starter to record twenty-seven outs without giving up a hit for the team.
It didn’t come without drama. First off, Santana is coming off a surgery that wiped out his 2011 season and he is just working his way back into form. It took 134 pitches, way over the allotted limit for the pitcher, but how could the manager pull a pitcher from making a piece of history. And then there is the foul ball that might have just been close enough to be fair.
The team is legendary. As a replacement to the departed Bums of Brooklyn and Giants of the Polo Grounds, who both left for west coast venues leaving New York with just one professional baseball team, the Mets started with an inaugural season that was less than stellar. But miraculous they were only 7 years later to gain the World Series championship, in a short time frame that saw two other New York teams claim the championship in their sport.
But with all the talent that has passed through the Mets pitching staff, one would have thought someone had thrown a no-hitter. But no, it was only after 8,019 tries that Johan threw the No-Han” as the video board read after the final out.
We are close to the Mets and follow their travails even though we are based up here in Red Sox Nation. The team does a lot of work with us in the promotion end and we are proud of their commitment to us. So when we see some perfection coming from their side we like to think how can we match that in our promotional business. It takes the same determination that Johan exhibited in his come back from surgery and attention to the details that each pitch requires. When one specialty is lacking perhaps another pitch will do the trick. It definitely works on Friday night.
According to published reports in the clubhouse after the game Santana thanked his teammates for their support through the outing showing some of the Assertive Humility we profess here at PK and concluded his remarks with his Venezuelan Austin Powers-like impersonation with a “Yeah baby!”
