So, the reviews are in, and guess what? Johan Santana is good. Check out some of the Phillies' comments after last night's 6-4 loss to Johan and the Mets.Charlie Manuel: "He has tremendous poise. He will give you good pitches to hit, but his slider's good, his fastball's good and his changeup's really good. Give him credit, man. He was that tough."
Chase Utley: "He was mixing his pitches well, and he was hitting the corners extremely well. He's tough.
So Taguchi: "His stuff is perfect, I think."
The Phillies better get used to it, though. They're going to see Santana again at various points throughout the season. I'm no hitting coach, but to me, the Phillies would be best served trying to ratchet up Santana's pitch count rather than swinging at first pitches (I'm talking to you, Pedro Feliz in the fifth inning last night) and get to the Mets' shaky bullpen more quickly. Aaron Heilman, in particular, struggles against the Phils, posting an 8.10 ERA, higher than against any other NL team.
Last night, Santana didn't leave the game until the eighth inning, and the Phillies nearly pulled it off when Greg Dobbs hit a pinch-hit three-run homer against none other than Heilman. What if they could make him throw 100 pitches in six innings? Regardless, though, Santana figures to be a nightmare for the Phils' lefty-dominant lineup. But, then, isn't what the Mets got him for?
1 comment:
I saw where Rollins tripped on his way to the drink cart on the red eye and will miss another couple of weeks
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