Johan Santana Must Hate the Mets

Johan Santana couldn't have envisioned this when he decided to leave the Minnesota organization after eight stellar seasons to sign the New York Mets. Like most people in baseball, he was banking on the Mets being a power in the National League and with them adding him to the rotation, this was supposed to be his best chance at a World Series ring. Well the Mets are on their way to screwing that up.

Earlier today, Santana tossed another brilliant game for the Metropolitans, leaving in the 8th inning with a 3-2 lead. The bullpen promptly served up a game-tying home run in the ninth, taking the win away once again from Johan. They have done this on a routine basis this year, including two outings ago when the Mets bullpen gave up three runs over the past two innings against the Astros.

Santana currently has a dominating 2.85 ERA through 24 starts in 161 innings. His record to show for that sterling ERA? 9-7. Nine wins. He has tossed 16 quality starts and have lost four of those games. Another six of those starts have ended in a no-decision after the pen decided to blow it. Not to mention two starts where he suffered the loss after allowing only one run through seven plus innings due to lack of run support.

The bottom line is Santana is fifth in the National League in ERA and should have about 16 or 17 wins. If things keep up the way they are going, he's looking at his lowest win total since 2002, when he only made 14 starts and won eight. Obviously he's going to be saying the right things to the media, but this has to be frustrating. Also, this isn't just about him getting wins for his stat line, but the Mets signed him to help get them over their massive collapse from last year. That hasn't been happening, and it's not going to happen if they continue to waste starts from their best pitcher. The Mets are only two games behind Philadelphia for the division, but unless they find a way to take advantage of Santana's starts, the Mets are going to miss the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

You've Never Seen This Before

One of the greatest appeals of baseball is that could watch two thousand games and one day see something you've never seen before. Well on a summer night in early August in Kansas City, Jason Bay hit one of the strangest doubles (and almost home run) you will ever see...

ESPN Should Welcome Rain Delays More Often

ESPN had its Monday Night Baseball game of the Cubs-Astros all ready to go tonight, but an extended rain delay made for great TV. With the rain coming down and tarp going on at Wrigley, ESPN jumped around from game to game, showing fans a small morsel of almost all the games around the country tonight. And they had a knack for picking games at the right time.

In Texas, we saw a couple big home runs for the Rangers against the Yankees. In Tampa, we saw David Dellucci's moonshot for the Indians to give them the lead for good over the Rays. They also showed games that normally you would never see on national television, such as the Rockies-Nationals and the Pirates-Diamondbacks. Of course when they went to the Pirates game, the D-Backs were finishing a six-run eighth inning in a 13-7 win. They also sent us over to see Seattle's big comeback against the Twins as the Mariners put up a 10 spot in the seventh inning.

In the middle of this smorgasbord of games, the Cubs game got going again for a couple innings, but went to a delay again due to lightning in the area. It was eventually called a short time later. Before that though, ESPN capped off the live look-ins with the Angels-Orioles in what was the best game (or finish) of the night. With LA leading 5-1 in the ninth with two on and two out, the Angels summoned K-Rod in what would appear to be an easy save only needing one out for his 46th save of the season. That was not the case. Rodriguez got Roberts to ground to first base, but everybody was save after the ball skipped off Mark Teixeira for a fielding error. With the bases loaded, he served up a two-run single off Nick Markakis to cut the lead to 5-3. After a wild pitch that moved the runners into scoring position, Melvin Mora ripped a two-run double to tie the game. K-Rod stood shocked on the mound after only his fourth blown save of the year. The Angels went on to win it in the bottom of the inning, but at the point the Cubs game was over and we were sent to Sportscenter.

I don't say this often, but kudos to ESPN for not leaving us with John Kruk and Buster Olney for the entire length of the rain delay to hear them yap on telling rain delay stories. I felt like I had the MLB Extra Innings package as we jumped around from game to game all night. Maybe ESPN can just schedule nights where we see 8-10 different games. That would be fantastic, but I'm sure contract obligations and what not get in the way of that. Maybe I can just pray for rain delays on Monday and Wednesday nights. Either way, one thing is for sure. Tonight was a lot more fun watching that then any Cubs-Astros game has even been.

The Pirates Finally Made the Right Moves

Look, I'm a Pittsburgh Pirates fan...probably the biggest one you'll find these days. I'll be the first to point out the horrendous signings, drafting and trades they've made in the past 15 years. But the two trades made in the past week at the trade deadline were the right moves. Most of the fans and people around baseball are saying "here we go again" with the Pirates. I understand that fans are fired up once again (trust me, I've been there), but this time it is different. Really.

Some are comparing the Jason Bay trade to the Aramis Ramirez deal in 2003 when the Pirates handed the Cubs an All-Star third baseman for pretty much nobody (Bobby Hill, Jose Hernandez and Matt Bruback). They went ahead with that trade because they could not pay Ramirez what he wanted, and the front office at the time had no idea how to value its stars for sterling prospects. This is not the case this time around.

The Pirates can afford Jason Bay. They can afford Xavier Nady. The problem is prior management (Cam Bonifay, Dave Littlefield) left this organization in shambles with the Major League roster and minor league system depleted of stars and talent. The Pirates weren't going to finish over .500 with Bay and Nady...they simply need a lot more. Forget about the history and press that will come with the 16th consecutive losing season because it's already over. It's going to happen and there's nothing to do about it in the final two months, but they can start to finally rebuild in the right direction.

Neal Huntington took probably the worst job in baseball last winter with the task of piecing together a winning team with absolutely nothing in the cupboard. The former GMs left him with prize pieces such as John Van Benschoten, Sean Burnett, Bryan Bullington, Matt Morris and so on. In short, it's a mess. That's why Huntington went out and traded his best two bargaining chips for prospects that are Major League ready in an attempt to flood this system with quality prospects and add depth to it. He was able to acquire two top prospects in the Red Sox organization (Moss and Hansen), along with the number two prospect in the Dodgers organization (Andy LaRoche) and the third in the Yankees organization (Jose Tabata).

Huntington and the Pirates still have a long way to go. These trades are not going to make them contenders tomorrow, but it's a start. They need to continue building with solid draft picks and smart free-agent signings in the offseason. For the first time in the past 15 years, I can confidently say that the Pirates are finally moving in the right direction.