Johan Santana Does the Impossible

By Rich MacLeod

First off, excuse me for the late post. I am still a fan, therefore I’ve been living in a dream for the past day. Not only is this an article about an amazing moment, it is my experience as not a professional, but a fan.

It happened. It actually, finally happened. And no, it wasn’t a dream. As a Mets fan for most of my young life, I had always grown up knowing that the New York Mets don’t get no-hitters, that just doesn’t happen. I remember the Jon Maine game from the second to last game of the 2007 season, it was broken up by an infield single with 2 outs in the 8th by some guy named Paul Hoover. Even though he didn’t get it, even know the Mets’ season would end in devastating fashion the very next day, that game seemed to live in folk loire just because we had come so close to what was believed to be a pipe dream.

Mets pitchers had flirted with no-hitters but never got serious since. In fact, no Met had gone through the 6th inning since that game. Things had gotten so pathetic in that matter that if a pitcher made it through the first inning, you would start to dream again. There have been two Mets one-hitters since the move to Citi Field; one by Jon Niese and the other by R.A. Dickey. For years I’ve thought what could have been, so close and yet so far at the same time. To be honest, I’ve even dreamt of what Mets TV play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen’s call would sound like. But that was all just a dream. That is, until last night.

It started like any other game, a couple of no-hit but shaky innings for Johan Santana. While the though of no-hitter had come to my mind as early as the 3rd, I never truly believed that it would happen, I just expected a hit to land sooner or later. You know it’s funny, in between the 3rd and 4th innings I had texted a colleague of mine saying that Adam Wainwright, the St. Louis Cardinals starter, had no-hit stuff. Later in the 5th when I brought the idea up of a Santana no-no, he laughed, as he should have. The Mets had never had one and Johan was already up to 77 pitches starting the inning. After shoulder surgery, plus the impending thunderstorm, there was no chance of this happening. As the innings went on and the Cardinals went down without hits, the idea seemed to become less and less farfetched and yet it was still something that no Met fan, especially this one, could quite comprehend. After the controversial ball hit in the 6th inning by Carlos Beltran, that seemed to be a potential break that could loom large but when Mike Baxter made a tremendous catch in left field to save the big in the 7th, that’s the moment when all Mets fans said, “maybe this could happen.”

The no-hitter, the impending storm and the all-important pitch count all factored into making the most dramatic night that Citi Field has ever experienced. After walking a man with 2 outs in the 8th, with well over 100 pitches, manager Terry Collins jogged out to the mound. Fans holding their breaths (or in my case yelling at the television), Collins left his man in the game, and he promptly got Carlos Beltran to loop out to second base. With that out, Johan Santana became the first Met to enter the 9th inning with a no-hit bid who was not named Tom Seaver. “The Franchise” had never been able to close it out, giving up a hit in the 9th all three times he had a chance, but Johan entered with a chance. After a first pitch fly ball to center in which many believed it to be a hit, Santana induced a fly ball to left, another ball I had just assumed was going to ball. But it didn’t. It landed in the glove of left fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Two outs. This can’t happen, right? It’s 3-0 to David Freese, Yadier Molina is on deck. Oh man, Molina is going to break our hearts again in the 9th, I know it. Not so fast. Called strike 1 to Freese. Then an innocent tapper down the third base line that gave me a near heart attack, but it goes foul. As Gary Cohen said “shades of Paul Hoover.” Full count. One strike away. Come on Johan! The pitch… Swing and a miss! It actually happened. As I jump up and down in my room, celebrating with friends and family, I cannot believe what I have witnessed. Even today, as I’m writing this very article it just does not feel real to me. But it is real. He’s done the impossible. Johan Santana has pitched the first no-hitter in New York Mets history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArdIy7IQKnc

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