Johan Santana Takes The Mound For The Mets

Pitchers and catchers reported to Spring training yesterday and the Mets introduced Johan Santana everyone. Minor leaguers that will never make the bigs were on hand to drool and some sports media showed up. BatsBlog reports the awe-inspiring moment when Santana took the mound in a Mets uniform for the first time.

Santana threw to the bullpen catcher extraordinaire Dave Racaniello for about 10 minutes with the pitching coach Rick Peterson offering repeated thumbs-up. What would you expect him to say to the best pitcher on the planet? “Umm, yeah, you need a little work on that changeup?”

No. We’d tell him to stay away from Pedro Martinez because he’s a bad influence. So, once Johan is comfortable with the Mets daily routine, what will people call him? Johan? Santana? Jotana? People want to know, damnit.

Santana is scheduled to throw his first true side session on Sunday, according to a sheet hanging inside the clubhouse. There were 34 pitchers on that list — half are scheduled to throw Friday, the other half on Saturday — and only two were identified by something other than their last name: Pedro and El Duque. Maybe soon, there will be a third: Johan.

When did the Mets become a Brazilian soccer team?
First step to one-name status [Bats Blog]
Image [Newsday]