Currently: If ever there was a time for Johan Santana to show his Cy Young Award mettle for the New York Mets, it has arrived.
Santana makes arguably his most important start since being acquired in the offseason as the embattled Mets try to avoid a four-game sweep at Turner Field on Thursday at the hands of their archrivals, the Atlanta Braves.
The Mets (22-22) lost 11-4 on Wednesday, and are in danger of falling below .500 for the first time since April 9. After seemingly righting themselves before this series by taking two games from the New York Yankees in a rain-shortened interleague set, the Mets are struggling again and plagued by a minor controversy involving manager Willie Randolph, whose job security has been the subject of increased speculation in recent weeks.
“It’s not acceptable,” Randolph said. “That’s not the way we want to play baseball.
“Talking about it’s not going to get it done for you.”
Randolph, who suggested SNY - the team’s official TV network - portrayed him in a different manner than it would a white manager - issued an apology prior to Wednesday’s loss to his players for creating an “unnecessary distraction.”
Against that backdrop, Santana (5-2, 3.30 ERA) sets out to win his fifth consecutive decision and avenge an earlier loss to the Braves (25-21) at Turner Field. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner again struggled keeping the ball in the park versus the Yankees on Sunday - allowing three home runs in 7 2-3 innings - but he still got the victory.
“That’s what I’m here for,” Santana, who has yielded 11 homers in 60 innings, told the Mets’ official Web site. “That’s what I want to do. I know exactly what my role is, and every time they want me to get the ball, I’ll just try to do it. I’m here to help this team win games, and I’m pretty sure everybody feels the same way. Every time I go out there, I’m trying to make it very special.”
He had no offensive support at Atlanta on April 6, taking the loss despite limiting the Braves to one run in seven innings of a 3-1 defeat. He is 0-2 with a 2.41 ERA in three lifetime starts against Atlanta, but has not received any runs of support in those games.
Atlanta improved to 19-5 at home Wednesday and won its fourth straight game overall. Mark Teixeira, Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur - back in the lineup after a rare game off - went a combined 9-for-13 with six runs and nine RBIs.
“To me it had nothing to do with physical,” said Francoeur, whose streak of 370 games played ended Tuesday. “It was more of a mental thing, just to sit on the bench and relax and try to get my mind back the right way.”
Atlanta’s Tim Hudson (6-3, 3.06) will try to regroup from his worst outing of the season and win for the fourth time in five starts. The right-hander was reached for a season-high five runs and gave up two homers in five innings of a 5-4 defeat to his former team - the Oakland Athletics - on Sunday.
He has a victory over the Mets this year, giving up three runs in six innings on April 5. Hudson is 8-5 lifetime versus New York.
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