Those Mets

IGARASHI PUTS JOHAN'S SHUTOUT TO WASTE

Jerry Manuel tried to downplay the idea that Met pitchers were aware of the team's shutout streak before Friday night's game. But he did acknowledge that Johan Santana might be pondering the streak as he prepared to start against the Brewers. "Probably with a guy like Johan going, as competitive as he is, he'd think: 'I'm not going to give that up,'" Manuel said. "But if he kept it under two (runs), that'd be fine." Santana did better than that, duplicating his mates' zeroes for eight innings. But the Mets lineup couldn't solve Milwaukee righty Yovani Gallardo, and birthday boy Ryota Igarashi gave up a walk-off homer to Corey Hart in a stunning 2-0 loss in front of 32,773 at Miller Park that extinguished the Mets' five-game winning streak. "I guess it was our turn to get shut out for once," Jeff Francoeur said. "What's frustrating is we have to win games when Santana pitches." Santana's effort extended the Mets' shutout streak to 35 innings, the second-longest in team history, seven shy of the team record, set Sept. 23-38, 1969. The Mets could rue several bungled opportunities against Gallardo (5-2), who threw a complete-game eight-hitter. The Mets loaded the bases with none out in the third but did not score as Jose Reyes hit into a fielder's choice and Alex Cora bounced into a 4-6-3 double play. Three Mets struck out looking at Gallardo's 94 mph fastball over the final two innings - Reyes to end the eighth with Santana standing on second, Ike Davis with one on in the ninth and Angel Pagan to end the ninth with runners on first and second. Santana had thrown a relatively stress-free 105 pitches after eight innings, allowing just three hits and two walks. He had retired the last 11 batters he faced and allowed only one baserunner after the third and that was on Gallardo's fifth-inning single. The Brewers had only one runner reach second base against Santana - Casey McGehee, who doubled leading off the second but never budged. But Santana had hit in the eighth inning, doubling to right-center with two out after Francoeur had hit into a double play, the Mets' third of the night. That helped Manuel decide to take him out of the game, though Santana wanted to remain. "Once he had doubled and fought through the eighth, I wasn't going to (leave him in)," Manuel said. "(Prince) Fielder (the leadoff hitter in the ninth) was seeing him well, too, I thought. I didn't want him to lose that game after pitching like that." It's been tough enough for Santana - the Mets are only 6-5 when he starts, although he has been impressive, especially lately. Since getting clobbered in Philadelphia on May 2, he has a 1.69 ERA in five starts, going at least seven innings each time. He believes his changeup is as good as it's ever been. Pedro Feliciano got one out before Igarashi, who turned 31 yesterday, allowed an infield single to Ryan Braun. One out later, Hart hit his 10th homer of the season, and first career walk-off, to left field. Happy Birthday, Mr. Igarashi. It was the first home run against a Met pitcher in nine games, a span of 86 innings. "This is an important situation where obviously you can't make mistakes," Igarashi said through an interpreter. "The batter was able to take advantage of my mistake. I completely missed where I wanted to throw it." Santana admitted that "it was tough" to come out of the game. "It was a great game," he said. "It came down to one pitch at the end. The way it was going, the situation, the atmosphere, you don't want to come out." "Just one of those days where you try to do everything you can and things don't work out the way you want it," Santana added. "Give credit to Gallardo. He did a great job. He was a little better." (NY Daily News)