Terry Collins was thrust in between a rock and a hard place tonight.
His choices:
A) Let one of the most expensive pitchers in major league history, a guy who happens to be coming off shoulder surgery, top his previous career high in pitches in search of the franchise?s elusive no-hitter
B) Pull his left-handed ace, something that surely would have happened in the eighth had he already allowed a hit or two, and try to protect his team?s investment while also likely increasing his team?s chances of completing the no-hitter by bringing in a right-handed reliever to face three straight right-handed hitters.
Obviously, he chose A. I imagine every manager in the league would have done the same. It would have been extremely difficult to go the other way, assuming that Johan Santana wanted to stay in. I do think the Mets would have had the better chance of getting the hitless ninth with Frank Francisco or Bobby Parnell facing Matt Holliday, Allen Craig and David Freese. Santana, though, got the job done, giving the Mets their first no-no in their 51-year history.
Repercussions, if there are any, will take time to manifest. Santana had never topped 125 pitches in 273 career starts before throwing 133 pitches tonight. He hadn?t thrown more than 108 pitches in a start this season. The Mets will almost surely give him an extra day or two off before his next start. But rightly or wrongly, if he breaks down again later this year, people are going to point to tonight as the cause.
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