Those Mets

SANTANA COLLAPSES LIKE NEVER BEFORE

Among all the negative things that happened to the Mets in the first two weeks of a season that started so poorly, perhaps none was as shocking as what occurred here Sunday night. In a performance as bewildering as it was poor, the ace Johan Santana, the man to whom the Mets attached their hopes for the season, gave up a career-high 10 runs and tied his personal worst by allowing four home runs. As a result, the Mets lost to the Phillies, 11-5, and their brief stay atop the National League East ended after a four-day visit there. Unable to control the location of his fastball, Santana lasted three and two-thirds innings and gave up eight hits, four of which easily cleared the fences. Placido Polanco and Ryan Howard homered in the first inning. In a disastrous fourth, the Phillies scored nine times, eight of them off Santana, as Shane Victorino hit a grand slam and two batters later Chase Utley hit a two-run homer. “Tonight was different,” Santana said. “It was a crazy day.” Santana’s performance, the worst of his 11-season career, was a complete surprise because, other than one bad inning against the Washington Nationals on April 11, he had been dominant. Coming into the game, he had allowed only one run over all in his three previous starts against the Cardinals, the Cubs and the Dodgers, all Mets victories. He was 3-1 with a 2.08 earned run average coming into the game, but his E.R.A. more than doubled to 4.50. The 10 runs allowed were the most he had surrendered since he gave up nine against the Yankees on June 14 last year. The last time he allowed four home runs in a game was less than a week before that, against the Phillies here on June 9. Later that season, he had bone chips surgically removed from his elbow and he has reported no problems since. Santana said he felt good and had no health problems before or during the game. “I felt pretty good,” he said. “I had a good warm-up, and I felt everything was fine. It was just one inning when everything went crazy and my fastball just went off and I wasn’t able to command it. That was about it." Santana was actually close to escaping the fourth-inning devastation with the Mets leading, 5-3. Utley, who had a double and a home run in the inning, was on second with two outs, and Santana got ahead 0-2 in the count on Raul Ibanez. Santana tried to throw a fastball away from Ibanez, but it tailed back over the plate and Ibanez hit a ground-ball single to right field that scored Utley. “That was the pitch that changed the whole inning,” Santana said. What followed was far worse. With two outs and the bases loaded, Santana inexplicably walked pitcher Jamie Moyer to force in a run, then Victorino followed with the second grand slam of his career, a drive into the stands in left field. When Moyer was at the plate, the fans stood and cheered in eager anticipation. Obviously out of sync, Santana threw two straight balls to Moyer, a 47-year-old left-hander whose record against the Mets improved to 10-5 in 26 career appearances against them. Santana had just walked Carlos Ruiz to get to Moyer, and his command was simply not there. With each pitch off the plate, fans grew louder and louder. Santana threw a called strike at 2-0, and then another at 3-1, but his full-count offering was high and inside, well above where catcher Rod Barajas had set up his glove. As the fans roared, Ibanez trotted home. Even before Santana had given up the grand slam — the second he allowed this season — his velocity appeared normal, if not a little bit higher than usual. But it was clear he was struggling with his command. After the grand slam, Polanco singled to center and Utley ripped a shot about 15 rows into the stands in right field. That would be the end for Santana, who had to trudge off the field to the hoots and howls of 45,439 mostly delirious Phillies fans. It was the largest crowd of the year at Citizens Bank Park and the park’s seventh largest. Santana was followed by Hisanori Takahashi, and while he was warming up outfielders, Jeff Francoeur, Jason Bay and Jeff Francoeur stood in the outfield and ruminated over the unusual events. “We were like, ‘Wow, didn’t see that happening,’ ” Francoeur said. “But it’s one game, one inning. I’ll still take Santana on the mound any day f the week. How many times is that going to happen? I’ve never seen him give up runs like that, so I’ll just write that one off.”