Santana's Performance

So Johan Santana pitched today. It was a big deal. A number of fans crowded to see this spring training game. The game was carried by SNY and played back later in the evening as well. The excitement was in the air. And… Santana did not pitch well.

Santana worked two innings. He threw 30 pitches. He gave up 4 hits, three for extra bases, a homerun and three runs. A number of fans were disappointed but I say, “So what?” This was his first outing of the spring. He should not be perfect at this point and probably does not even want to be.

Santana said his goal was to throw strikes (22 of the 30 pitches were) and to get his slider and changeup over for strikes and locate his fastball. Those sound like good, reasonable goals for a pitcher this early in the spring. And, Santana did exactly what he wanted to.

Yes, the fans who came out to see him were disappointed but Santana did what he needed to do to get himself in shape and ready for opening day. That, of course, is what’s important.

Santana’s approach is “Work now, win later”. Not only does that sound reasonable to me, it sounds like it is exactly what he should be doing right now. It maybe a ‘bad’ stat line, but it was a good session.