Santana, Mets miss golden opportunity

We all know that I’m one of those guys that always says, “Baseball is a marathon, NOT a sprint.” A six month season has more twists and turns than Eliot Spitzer’s personal life. Most people get that. But here in New York, the Mets and Yankees are treated as 162 individual soap operas. The fans live and die with the teams. One day, all is great with the world. The next, your team stinks and there is no hope for the future of civilization.

Last night was one of those rare exceptions. The Mets had the day’s headlines all to themselves. Yes, the Yankees are better and are streaking right now. But the Mets were tall set to reach first place-three outs away from putting a season of inconsistency behind them. More after the jump.

No question: The bullpen is directly to blame for last night. They didn’t pick up the team or the injured Billy Wagner. BUT - it would have been nice to see Johan start the 9th. To say: “I’m the guy, let’s go.” No matter how great Johan is, he’s not Brandon Webb or Roy Halliday-guys who take the ball and go out and get it done. Santana was supposed to be the Crown Prince here. Johan got so much attention when he was traded to the Mets, the CW-11 gave him more live coverage than the Giants Super Bowl win, But Johan has yet to have that defining moment win. Last night should have been: If he had had the courage to finish what he started OR the bullpen was strong enough to get three outs. Instead, we get a game eerily familiar to last September, and Johan looks more like fellow divas Pedro Martinez or Greg Maddux-safely tucked away in a clubhouse after his “good” outing that resulted in nothing good for the Mets.