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In his last start on Saturday versus the Yankees, Johan Santana allowed three homeruns for a total of 11 this season. However, only three of his 11 homeruns allowed this season have come with runners on base.
Currently, Santana is on pace to allow a career-high 40 homeruns this season.
…being a fly ball pitcher i’d expect johan to always have a propensity to give up the long ball, but not at the rate he is…at least the majoriy of his homeruns are of the solo variety…
…some may be alarmed about this, but i’m not, typically johan is a slow starter and his homerun rate decreases as the season progresses…
…added to by Matthew Cerrone…
Santana is 48–29 with a 3.57 ERA when starting before the All-Star Game, but is 50–17 with a 2.79 ERA when starting after the All-Star Game.
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I can’t wait to slappy mcsingleton myself a HR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$6 mil./year read it and weep
???
can someone delete this comment that has NOTHING To do with the topic? its not even funny
This does not concern me to much as johan finds a way to keep us in the game and usually bounces back and ends the inning right there. Johan will be fine as summer rolls in and also i think its him adjusting to the NL hitters. He will do better playing teams over and over again..Johan is the least of our concerns IMO
It amazes me that anyone would express concern over
Johan’s giving up (mostly) solo HR’s, especially when he’s got a decent lead, which has mostly been the case.
I’m surely not the only one who has screamed at the TV watching pitcher after pitcher trying to nibble at the strike zone with a sizable lead, and wind up commiting the cardinal sin, walking people!
He knows they can’t beat him with a single swing of the bat, so he challenges them in the zone. This is what a good, experienced pitcher does, and I’m thrilled that we have one of those guys playing for our side.
I have no doubt that you’d see less HR’s if he were locked into 1-0 or 2-1 duels every game. Thankfully that hasn’t been the case, for the most part. I could care less if he leads the league in HR’s allowed and has 18-20 W’s.
If you want no-hitters go find another Nolan Ryan. Just remember that Ryan managed to win 32 games more than he lost in 27 seasons.That makes him barely over .500 in W/L.
To quote Al Davis, ” Just Win, Baby!”
As is usually the case in Baseball, just looking at one particular stat or number in a vacuum does not really tell the story. Let’s take a look at the Home runs Santana allows. Yes he has allowed 11 so far in this short season and yes he’s on pace for 40 home runs, but what does that really mean? It means, like most great pitchers who are ALWAYS around the plate, major league hitters will now and then hit one out. Most of Santana’s Home-runs come with no one on base, that’s not by coincidense or pure luck. He knows exactly what point of the game he’s at. If the Mets are up by 2 or three runs and there’s no one on base, he will try and get ahead of the hitter by throwing the ball for a strike rather than walking him (much more worse than giving up a homerun with the bases empty. He’s know a walk is much worse because it could lead to a bigger inning. The bottom line is the guy is 5-2 with an ERA around 3.00 in a new league, a new catcher, and a new stadium! And if the Mets bull-pen had not blown 3 other games he left with a lead, Santana could very easily be 7-1 right now! Wait till he really gets going after mid season, on his way to 20-wins!
As long as the HRs are of the solo variety, I have no problems with this. I’d rather have my starter give up solo HRs than walks.
He doesn’t nibble… which is obviously a huge key to his success… the result is his mistakes are over the plate…
I’ll still take him in every big game this season…
I think that stats like this can be misleading. Although the Jeter homer was a bomb, the other 2 he gave up to the yankees were while he was pitching with a lead and he looked to be in the “let them put it in play” mode.
Absolutely right.
If he’s giving up solo shots in late innings with a decent lead, that just shows he’s pounding the zone and challenging hitters. That’s precisely what he’s supposed to do – play the percentages, stay efficient, protect the ‘pen, think about your team winning, not your ERA.
Yes, he does not dig a hole and then give up the 3 run bomb. He knows how to pitch.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little concerned about it. However, the bottom line to me is that even with the HRs, he’s allowing few ERs, and continues to pitch well and get his team wins. If he continues to pitch the way he has so far in 2008, for the remainder of his contract, I’ll be happy.
Mets are 7-2 when Johan starts. Enough said.
You Don’t Mess with the Johan.
and in one of those looses, he gave up 1 run in 7 IP…
I am so worried about these HR’s. Wish we had Phil Hughes in the rotation. I would feel a whole lot better.
Really! And we should trade Pelfrey and Heilman for Kennedy!!!!
I would trade Heilman for Johnny Damon’s arrm.
Yea…he looks like he is imitating El Duque’s ephus pitch out there.
Ha funny you mention the Ephus, that pitch is money, in MLB 2K8!
lol
That LOL was Not toward the kenedy comment, but toward the hughs one
He had a 5 run lead he was throwing the ball over.
Anyway he is always a better 2nd half pitcher. He never loses a game after the all star break
I know it may sound strange, but I like the fact that Santana gave up those late inning home runs. It is obvious that he was out there with a lead throwing strikes. He explained himself after the game and said he made two mistakes and they capitalized.
Santana could give up 50 home runs this year for all I care. As long as his ERA stays where it is now and he stays on pace with his wins, we will be getting what we paid for. He is only going to get better, and the Mets have won all but two of his starts. Nothing wrong with Santana.
and one of those losses was the 1-0 variety.
I don’t care about era….this isn’t about fantasy stats….it’s about winning, and as long as santana wins by going all the way to billy wagner, he is the man….period.
so true, people who are worried about looking at Santana’s stats will be worried, but I don’t care about era, its all about wins, and right now, Santana has only pitched one game where he pitched us out of the game, and that wasn’t even that horrible of a start, bad yes, not horrible. That’s the thing with Santana, he doesn’t look like a cy young winner right now, but he’s so consistent, he’s basically guaranteeing you the same thing every single time out, which is something special. I do expect him to turn it up a bit in the 2nd half, like he always does, and after getting used to the hitters and all, but even if he doesn’t, i’m fine with it. 3.something era, a bunch of wins, keeping us in the game no matter what. But i certainly won’t be surprised when he gets in that groove after the break and churns out like 10 straight really good starts.
I can’t wait to watch his 2nd half
I know his history of strong 2nd halfs, but it’s a new year and a new league, and I hate to take anything for granted.
You don’t care about ERA?? What an assinine comment!! Do you understand that the number of runs a pitcher gives up is directly related to winning or losing a game?????
The point is, it depends on game situation.
Who cares if you give up a solo shot in the 8th to make a 6-run game into a 5-run game? It’s no worse than walking a guy in that situation.
I think he has done a great job and I’m only slightly concerned his velocity is down a hair. I often wondered why he does not throw something hard that breaks down to compliment his change.
The Yanks must feel the pressure from not going after him a little harder. Hank must have something to say, it’s been very quiet.
Who cares? He’s a fighter. If you’re going to fight, sometimes you get hit. It doesn’t matter as long as you win the match.
I am sticking by the notion that these HRs won’t happen in the 2nd half, based on his carreer stats
here is a scary stat, in 18.1 inning pitched at shea he’s given up 6 hrs
meh, three in one game in his first start here against a lefty killing team. it’ll calm down.
I hope so , but everyone knows the hardest time of the year to hit them out of shea is the early spring, when its blistering cold and the wind is blowing in. I’ve been to 6 games this year and believe me all but one the wind has been blowing in knocking the ball down. I worry about when it warms up and the ball will travel more.
He gave up 2 to Pittsburgh and 1 to Cincy.
The wind is rarely straight in, it’s normally either left-to-right or right-to-left, which knocks them down to one side but carries them out on the other.
Cold works both ways too – it’s tough for pitchers to work in the cold as well, and Santana’s always been a slow starter.
He’s on track to give up 40 homeruns, yes, but he’s also on track to win 20 games. I’d like his ERA to be lower than it is, and I’d like to see him throw more innings, but I’ll take what he’s given so far.
Actually, I’m fine with a 3.5 ERA in this day and age, even post-steroids. The HR are bothersome, but for an ounce of perspective, Ryan Ludwick is on pace to hit 40 HR. Take it quarter by quarter. Santana will be (and already is) fine.
Well, considering he had a 3.30 ERA w/ Minnesota in the AL, we expected his ERA to go down in the supposedly weaker hitting NL. The only reason it concerns me is the inconsistency of the Mets’ offense. Should he give up 3 or 4 runs, we can’t expect the Mets to win because they could go 0-12 with RISP.
But as everyone has said, he’ll likely get better as the season progresses. And as we all know, we’ve yet to see Santana at his best, meaning something like 8 innings, 3 hits, 0 BB, 0 runs, and 14 K’s.
It’s always tough to predict what a change of scene will do for a pitcher (cough! Zito! cough)
i think there’s a lot of good offense in the NL
Agreed, and in particular, there’s a lot of good offense in the NL East.
To me, it seems like a very large proportion of the hits he gives up leaves the park. This tells me that it is, in part, bad luck that he gives up so many homers.
Some of his earned runs has also been ‘bull pen aided’, so in all, he’s done a terrific job IMHO.
I’d rather Santana give up 40 homeruns, 32 solo, than 80 walks. He challenges hitters, in a smart way. What I mean by that is if no one is on base he will challenge you that much more. That’s what good pitchers do.
Exactly. He works fast and throws strikes, and he doesn’t waste pitches.
I’ll take 40 HRs allowed, if it comes with 20 W’s.
so technically with his current ERA he’s pitching comparable to his career … cant wait till the summer !!