Those Mets

SAME OLD: METS BATS FAIL TO SUPPORT SANTANA

The string of zeros is a point of pride for Johan Santana, but man -- man -- is it frustrating. Five days ago in Milwaukee, Santana fired eight shutout innings but endured a no-decision. On Wednesday, he went seven scoreless -- and for what? A 5-1 loss in 11 innings to the Padres and a heavy dose of disappointment. Santana left, and it fell apart. Francisco Rodriguez blew a save. And Raul Valdes served up a walk-off grand slam to Adrian Gonzalez in the 11th. "It's been crazy," Santana said. "But there's not much I can do." Indeed, he did all he could Wednesday, in what by some standards was his most impressive start of the season. Although Santana fought through poor command and had virtually no feel for his changeup -- all but abandoning the pitch in the early innings -- he still managed to blank the Padres for seven innings. He needed a season-high 123 pitches to do it, but he was willing and able to throw them. And the Mets were willing and able to let him do so. Although Santana had already fired 106 pitches through six and was due to lead off the seventh, Mets manager Jerry Manuel did not even ask his ace whether he wanted to stay in the game, quite simply because Manuel needed him to be there. And it was the right move. Once Santana told pitching coach Dan Warthen that he felt fine, he grabbed a bat, grounded out and then set down the Padres in order one last time. It was only after he left the game that frustration blanketed the Mets, prompting Manuel to quip that he needs his starters to throw eight or nine innings every game. "We need to win when Johan starts," said Jeff Francoeur, who drove in the Mets' lone run with an RBI single off Clayton Richard in the fourth. But the Mets are not winning. Instead, they are 1-4 over Santana's last five starts despite his 0.74 ERA in those games. They are 0-2 in Santana's most recent two outings, despite the fact that he has not allowed a run. "That's unacceptable," Francoeur said. "When he starts, we've got to be winning 75 percent of the time. He's our ace." One of the few pitchers the Mets trust as much as Santana is Rodriguez, who entered Monday's game in relief of Mike Pelfrey because Manuel wanted to give him some work. On Tuesday, he pitched because the Mets needed him, and he did not pitch particularly well. Rodriguez served up a leadoff single to Tony Gwynn on an 0-2 pitch in the ninth, and a game-tying single to David Eckstein on another 0-2 pitch. Staying on to throw 2 2/3 innings in his longest outing since May 2004, Rodriguez said: "I made the mess, I like to clean it up." And though he did an adequate job of that, the offense gave him no support. Instead, Valdes entered to open the 11th and served up a leadoff double and a one-out single, before plunking Eckstein to load the bases. Moments later, Gonzalez lined a 1-1 fastball over the left-field fence, ensuring that the Mets would not win back-to-back road games for the first time since July 25-26 of last season. They have now played 55 consecutive road games without winning two straight. The franchise record is 64 games, set during a run of ineptitude that stretched from 1963-64. "To accomplish what we want to accomplish, we're going to have to play better on the road," third baseman David Wright said. "If we could just find a way to just be decent at home, we'd be in pretty good shape. But that hasn't been the case." Flying back home after a 3-3 road trip would have been a boon for the Mets, who started out poorly in Milwaukee after a rejuvenating homestand last week at Citi Field. And they were on schedule to do so, up 1-0 over the Padres with their All-Star closer on the mound. "We were a strike away," Manuel said. But to lose the way they did, to drop a game and dent their record on this road trip, the Mets now have that same old sour taste in their mouths. Now they are back at .500, looking and feeling like a .500 team. It's not where they want to be. "But this is not the end of the world," Santana said. "We have to continue playing." Across the clubhouse, the third baseman delivered a more pointed message. "These," Wright said, "are the games we have to win." (Mets.com)