Johan Santana

[mnwild]

Is this guy a stud pitcher or what. The guy hasn't lost in 17 game back from if I remember July 2004.

Can you say CY YOUNG for the 2nd straight year and more to follow

[hip_hop_fisherman]

Lets all hope so. I'd be willing to bet if he can avoid injury (knock on wood) he'll be right up there for the award again this year. Impressive thus far, but eventually the Twins WILL NEED to score some more runs, its going to be hard to pitch in 1 run games and win them all.

[Jarrod32]

He leads the league in strikeouts, and in 33 innings he has given up 28 hits and three walks (that's three walks ALL YEAR)...less than a baserunner per inning on average. That is as dominant as it gets.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Yup, He da man. Let's hope the fellas can get their schwirve on and get him some run support.

[CNY Tim]

Santana is having the same problem as Roger Clemens, lack of run support and there both pitching well.

[riverrat56]

3 walks and i do believe 2 where intentional, 1 was forsure, that was last night, but i thought i heard Bert mention it was his second intentonal of the season.

[koWALLEYEski]

Johan = CY

[MrSenarighi]

That sucks that we ran into Colon on his best day. I have to admit he had one heck of a live fastball. Colon and Santana each only gave up 2 hits, just so happens the ones off the Angels bats went a little further. Oh well, he couldn't go on winning forever. I guess 17 straight decisions is pretty good.

[bigbucks]

We definitely had a solid chance to get Johan off the hook at least after Colon got hurt, but our situational hitting continued to be poor. Mathew's got good numbers overall this year, but man has he hit into some huge rally killing dp's.

[pikehunter]

Throughout his streak I've been taking a deep breath every time Johann missed the day-game-after-night-game spot in the rotation, only because of the lineup that we put out in that situation. It finally caught up with him yesterday.

Oh well, time for a new streak, I suppose.

[bigbucks]

That's a very good point, we have a questionable offense most days, but it tends to be a lot more questionable in those games. We sure haven't scored for him the last couple of times out, we won 2-1 in his previous start if you'll remember & the 2nd one came in the top of the 9th.

[Willy]

That's because Gardy rests alot of the everday guys and puts in the backups. I know it will help everyone stay fresh, but I think he should phase them in one at a time. When you put all of the backups in at once, it isn't a great day at the plate for the home team. I spose he figured Johans pitching and he will keep the other team held down, but you also have to look at who's pitching for them. Colon is a very good pitcher in this league and who here thought Rivas, Castro and Redmond would go 3 for 4?

[buzzsaw]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Johan Santana rebounded from his first loss in a nearly a year, scattering six hits for his second career complete game to lead the Minnesota Twins over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 7-1 Friday night.

Joe Mauer went 4-for-5 with a three-run homer, and Justin Morneau added a two-run shot in support of the AL Cy Young Award winner, who won for the 18th time in his last 19 decisions.

Santana (5-1) struck out seven and walked none, and the Devil Rays went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position after Aubrey Huff drove in the only run off the left-hander with a one-out triple in the first. Santana's other complete game was a three-hitter last July 6 against Kansas City.

Mauer matched a career high with four hits, including his homer off Dewon Brazelton (1-6) for a 3-1 lead in the third. Morneau homered off Rob Bell in the fifth, and Shannon Stewart added a RBI single to make it 7-1 in the sixth.

Santana lost a 17-game winning streak dating to last July despite only allowing just two hits -- both home runs -- in eight innings of a 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels last Sunday. He threw 92 pitches Friday night, 76 for strikes.

Lets see if you guys have ever had a pitcher this dominating... c'mon tell me about Denny "crack puppy" McClain or Fidrych "owie I'm injured and done at a young age" I'm not sure if Black Jack McDowell even came close either... although he was good for a few years...

[buzzsaw]

oh and one more FACT that should be known...

Santana has pitched seven or more innings in 23 of his last 29 starts, going 23-3 during that stretch

[Dotch]

Quote:

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oh and one more FACT that should be known...

Santana has pitched seven or more innings in 23 of his last 29 starts, going 23-3 during that stretch

---

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD....YES!

[SledNeck]

A big thing with Santana is that he doesnt get rattled, he makes a mistake gives up a hit or HR and he's right back in there. Wait till the 2nd half of this season, he's gonna seperate from the rest of the AL top hurlers.

[buzzsaw]

Santana deserving of 17-game salute

By Jayson Stark

ESPN.com

It's still slightly mind-boggling that the great Johan Santana just finished winning 17 games in a row – and it barely even registered on America's radar screen. So we're bringing our own radar screen to this party, and revisiting one of the most amazing streaks of modern times.

Just so everyone understands the meaning of this feat, only six other starting pitchers since 1900 have won this many games in a row – just two of them in the last 78 years.

Johan Santana hadn't lost since July 11, 2004 until last Sunday.

The whole list: Carl Hubbell, 24 straight (in 1936-37); Rube Marquard, 20 (1911-12); Roger Clemens, 20 (1998-99); Dave McNally, 17 (1968-69); Johnny Allen, 17 (1936-37); and Ed Reulbach, 17 (1906-07).

It's one thing to win 17 games in a row. It's another to dominate your sport as completely as Santana did while winning 17 in a row. Unlike Clemens, who had only the seventh-best ERA among big-league starters during his 20-game streak, Santana was a clear No. 1 during his streak, at 1.77.

The next-best ERA (among starters with at least 75 innings pitched): Jake Peavy (2.08). But the true measure of Santana's dominance was his standing in his own league. The next-best in the AL was Orlando Hernandez, who was almost a run and a half behind, at 3.12. Unbelievable.

Want to see some other categories? Santana also led the major leagues in strikeout ratio during his streak, at 11.40 per nine innings. Next-best: Mark Prior (10.80). Next-best among starters who pitched only in the AL: Kelvim Escobar (way back there at 9.11).

There was also no contest in the hits per nine innings competition. Santana allowed a ridiculous 5.44 during the streak. Next-best: Peavy (6.85). Next-best among starters who pitched only in the AL: Jeremy Bonderman (7.30).

And while the Angels stopped his streak Sunday, Santana was still dominating . In the loss, he gave up exactly two hits. And you won't be surprised to learn he's the first pitcher ever to end a winning streak that long with a performance that spectacular.

The fewest hits allowed by any of the other modern streakers on this list in their streak-ending loss, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, is five, by Allen, in eight innings. No one else gave up fewer than seven.

Santana was so good, he didn't even need much luck to keep his streak alive. Only once did he leave a game trailing and then have his team get him off the hook. In a game against the Red Sox last Aug. 1, he was behind 3-2 when he walked off the mound following the top of the eighth – but the Twins scored twice for him in the bottom of the eighth.

During Clemens' 20-gamer, on the other hand, he had six different games in which he was trailing when he threw his final pitch, only to have his team bail him out.

Finally, how long was Santana's streak? So long that in between his losses, Ichiro Suzuki got 179 hits, Albert Pujols hit 30 home runs, Miguel Tejada drove in 106 runs, Barry Bonds walked 101 times, Adam Dunn whiffed 110 times and the highest-paid player in baseball, Alex Rodriguez, made a tidy 15.3 million bucks.

That was a tribute from an ESPN writer who gets it!!! Maybe our friends Windy and backitupski can appreciate him more now that somebody on the national level has wrote about him......

[MrSenarighi]

Buzzsaw, great post. I would like to also point out the fact that John Garland hurled a gem last time out giving up 6 runs and doubling his ERA. So keep dreaming Windy. As for your delusional buddy Backhimup, I would like to put you in quotes: "And all you have is Johan Santana, and I don't think he will last." If a 17 game winning streak isn't lasting, it would be interesting to know what you think is. If one of your Santana worshiping starting pitchers had half of that for a winning streak, we would never hear the end and you would declare a national holiday the day it happened. Just face it, you would trade your entire staff for Santana, and I don't blame you.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Mr. Senar,

You failed to mention that in that outing, Mr. Garland picked up his 6th win and leads the majors at 6-0, one game ahead of your "ace" and a full half a run in ERA.

Buzzy, you still getting detentions or have you been paroled? Your drivel sounds more like an obituary column for a fallen hero than anything else. Continue to salivate every time Johan takes the mound but he can't play all 9 positions and he only takes the mound once every 5 games. He better watch his step when he pee's into the cup and better not be sharing the "magic juice" with Mr. Roid-Con Enjoy second place, until the Tigers or Tribe pass you up!

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD....YES!

[SledNeck]

Whoops, I stumbled into FishingIL. on accident.

[buzzsaw]

More fun stats!

2005 American League Top Strikeout Games (starters only)

RNK PITCHER DATE OPP RES IP H R ER BB SO #Pit DEC GSC

1 Erik Bedard, Bal 5/4 Tor W 5-1 8.0 4 1 1 2 12 126 W 80

2 Mark Buehrle, CWS 4/16 Sea W 2-1 9.0 3 1 1 1 12 106 W 88

3 Daniel Cabrera, Bal 5/9 Min W 3-0 8.0 3 0 0 2 11 110 W 85

4 Johan Santana , Min 4/10 CWS W 5-2 7.0 7 2 2 1 11 108 W 65

5 Curt Schilling, Bos 4/18 Tor W 12-7 5.0 10 5 3 2 10 118 W 39

6 Johan Santana , Min 4/15 @Cle W 3-2 6.0 6 2 2 0 10 102 W 62

7 Johan Santana, Min 4/20 KC W 5-4 7.0 5 4 4 0 10 100 ND 61

8 Randy Johnson, NYY 4/14 @Bos L 5-8 7.0 5 5 5 2 9 103 ND 54

9 Roy Halladay, Tor 4/14 @Tex W 2-1 9.0 5 1 1 1 9 118 W 81

10 Randy Johnson, NYY 4/29 Tor L 0-2 9.0 7 2 2 3 9 109 L 71

It looks like Santana is dominating in the strikeout category again!

[GullGuide]

Buzz,

Why did you put that up? Now Windbag is going to use it against you....Buehrle is second on the list, even though Santana apears 3 TIMES!!!

Can't wait to see the spin Windbag puts on this....lol

[buzzsaw]

Hey Buehrle is a very good pitcher! But he's obviously NO Santana my boy.

Windstink will either ignore the Santana site or say something completely predictable..... or stupid, whatever you want to call it.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

No need, Gully. You did my bidding for me. But you forgot to say, YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD....YES!

[BackHerUp]

You know what's really hilarious Windy?

These guys go to bed thinking about us two...we're lurking in the empty caverns they call their "minds"...

I also notice they blindside me all week in threads I've never even visited before! It kills me...We've get 'em squirming like little girls...the power we wield over them is truly amazing, yet somehow sad...