Yeah, baby, believe it! Johan Santana pitches a no-hitter for the Mets!

Finally! I am happy for Squawker Jon and his fellow Mets fans that their franchise finally has a no-hitter. And I'm especially glad it was Johan Santana, one of the game's great pitchers. I even got a little teary-eyed watching it, and I have no heart! 

However, this means that much like I helpfully reminded Red Sox friends about 1918 before the 2004 ALCS, I now have one less thing to mock Jon about. You see, every single time an MLB pitcher has taken a no-hitter into the eighth or ninth, I always am sure to tell Squawker Jon that the Mets never had a no-hitter. You know, in case he forgot! 

Like when Justin Verlander nearly had his third no-hitter a few weeks ago. I informed Jon about how those no-hitters were more than his franchise ever had. I also have helpfully teased him over the years about how many ex-Mets have hurled no-hitters, making sure to remind him about how Dwight Gooden and David Cone did it as Yankees!

But last night was a little different. I watched the last three innings of Johan Santana's no-hitter instead of the Yankee game, as soon as Jon called me in the sixth to tell me what was what. Jon feared that Terry Collins may pull Santana even if he were pitching a no-hitter, due to the high pitch count. I told him flat-out that there was no way that Santana was going to allow that to happen. After all, this wasn't some rookie on the mound. It was Johan Santana! I just couldn't see any way that Santana was going to willingly leave the game. There would have been blood on the mound!

All teasing and trash talk aside, I really wanted Santana and the Mets to finally get that no-hitter, even if it means less ammunition when it comes to mocking my Met fan blogging partner. Until last night, the most historic thing to happen at CitiField was when Mariano Rivera got his 500th save on Mets' turf, a game Jon and I were at, and an event I love to remind Jon about, especially when K-Rod walked Mariano!

Now the Mets have their own no-hitter, on their own field. Good for them. Now I will have to find something else to mock Squawker Jon about!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

I've waited my whole life for a Met no-hitter

When I was growing up, I was obsessive about not missing a Met game, not just because I was a big fan, but because I didn't want to miss the first no-hitter. I had been fortunate enough to attend Tom Seaver's "imperfect game" that was broken up by Jimmy Qualls, and while I was too young to fully appreciate what nearly happened, it helped make me look forward to when the Mets would produce a no-hitter.

In the mid-70s, when the Mets were good, but not great, a no-hitter was something to look forward to. And why not? The Mets of course had Seaver, who would take two other no-hitters into the ninth, but they also had strong pitchers such as Jon Matlack and Jerry Koosman. They played in a pitcher's park.

Instead, it turned into the Mets' version of 1918 or 1940, only unlike the Red Sox or Rangers, there was no "not since..." to mark - it had never happened. In recent years - the Mets haven't even come that close - no no-hitters entering the ninth since Seaver in 1975. It looked so hopeless that if you had asked me before the game what the Mets would do first - pitch a no-hitter or win a World Series, I would have gone with the latter, and it's not as if I expect a title anytime soon.

As for who might be most likely to pitch one on the current team, a few years ago, I might have said Oliver Perez, who did have flashes of brilliance at one time. But that goes to show just how cursed the Mets had been in this area.

I would not have guessed Johan Santana. I was just glad he was back pitching at all.

Whenever I hear a no-hitter is going on, I call Squawker Lisa, but never before the ninth. Tonight, however, I called her after the sixth. I just had a feeling. Maybe it was because Carlos Beltran's ball that hit the third-base line chalk was called foul. Santana seemed in control. His biggest hurdle seemed to be the pitch count.

When Mike Baxter crashed into the wall in the seventh, it looked like another omen. In the eighth and ninth, it seemed that no out was routine. Maybe they were bloops, but fielders had to run to catch them, and avoid running into overeager fill-in shortstop Omar Quintanilla.

By the ninth, I thought Johan was going to do it. But I'm glad he got David Freese out and did not have to face Yadier Molina one more time.

And I'm glad that Beltran's ball down the line was called foul, not just because I'm glad Santana got the no-hitter, but because I didn't want Beltran to be the one who broke it up. I thought Beltran was very underrated as a Met and I didn't want Met fans to have something else to criticize him for. I'm glad he got a good reception tonight.

Squawker Lisa likes to tease me about Dwight Gooden and David Cone going on to pitch no-hitters for the Yankees. I was irritated about Gooden at the time, though after Johan became the first pitcher to have a no-hitter after missing the previous season, I have more appreciation for what Gooden accomplished. I was happy for Cone. As with Johan, Cone had come back from serious injury. Lisa reminded me how Cone was pulled after seven no-hit innings in his first game back in 1996 after his aneurysm.

By the way,  Lisa, do you remember who started for the Expos against Cone when he pitched the perfect game? A young pitcher named Javier Vazquez.

As I rooted for Johan to complete the elusive no-hitter, I fully appreciated the grim look on Terry Collins' face. This franchise has not had much luck with injuries in recent years and they pushed their luck with Johan tonight.

But as the magnitude of what Johan did sinks in, I have no doubt that Collins made the right decision. I hope I still feel that way in a few days when we find out how Johan is recovering from his 134-pitch outing. Right now, though, I am still having a little trouble believing that, after 8,020 games, the Mets finally have a no-hitter!

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Just added my keywords for the blog entry. "Mets" and "Johan Santana" were of course already in the label list. This entry marks the first use of the keyword "no-hitter."

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On Saturday afternoon, I will be participating in a "Progressive Game Blog" run by the United Cardinal Bloggers. Mets and Cardinals blogs will take turns writing about the game and about their teams in general. I will be covering the first inning along with the Cardinals blog Pitchers Hit Eighth.

Tabloid sez, without any evidence, that Steinbrenners could sell Yankees

Journalists whine that bloggers make something out of nothing, but that was my reaction after reading today's Michael O'Keeffe and Bill Madden piece for the New York Daily News saying that the Yankees could be up for sale soon. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think that sportswriters ought to have something more than hearsay and rumors and anonymous quotes before writing such an explosive story.

O'Keeffe and Madden write that:

Multiple baseball and finance sources told the Daily News they are hearing that the team the Steinbrenner family has led to seven World Series titles could be put on the block in the wake of the record sale price of $2.175 billion the Los Angeles Dodgers went for in April.

“There has been chatter all around the banking and financial industries in the city for a couple of weeks now,” one high-level baseball source told The News.

This is worthy of front-page and back-page covers in the New York Daily News? Because some anonymous Wall Street workers and baseball names are speculating about how much the Yankees could be worth, because the Dodgers were sold for so much? Spare me.

Look, it is always possible that the Steinbrenners could sell the team one day, or even sell it in the near future. But where is any evidence that this is going to happen? O'Keeffe and Madden do not have a single hard fact or on-the-record source showing that this could happen, yet they have written a news story, not an opinion column, saying that the Yanks could be for sale soon. There is only one named source in the article, Yankees president Randy Levine, who gave a flat denial to the News saying: "The Steinbrenners are not selling the team. Heck, there's not even an anonymous source saying that they will sell the team; just that they could sell the team. 

Full disclosure -- as long-time readers know, I used to work at the News, but my opinion would be exactly the same on this article whether I had worked there or not.

O'Keeffe and Madden not only make a whole lot out of supposition and rumors, they insinuate that Hal Steinbrenner may want to sell the team because he said this spring that he was a "finance geek" and that a good team didn't need a $220 million payroll in order to win. Then the article misrepresents Hal's position on the A-Rod re-signing in 2007, blaming Hank Steinbrenner for it.

They continue, "Hal Steinbrenner rarely attends games, and according to those who know him, abhors doling out the huge money long-term contracts such as the Rodriguez deal." Really? Then why did Hal sign off on that deal, as well as the CC Sabathia (seven years, and then an additional two years) and Mark Teixeira (eight years) contracts? Not to mention paying A.J. Burnett $82 million, and then paying nearly 2/3 of Burnett's last two years on the contract for him to pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates?

Buster Olney wrote the definitive version of what happened in the A-Rod contract -- I talked about it in Subway Squawkers last year. The gist of it is that Randy Levine, not bogeyman Hank Steinbrenner, did most of the negotiations with A-Rod and his people. And A-Rod had to go to Hal's house and apologize in person for the opting-out shenanigans before he would sign off on the contract, which he did. Contrary to this story, there is no evidence that Hal opposed the A-Rod deal, just that he was ticked off over the opting-out stuff.

But who needs actual facts when the News can have sources who say stuff like this:

“Hal’s a smart businessman,” the source said. “And I’m just not sure that he considers baseball to be a smart business. I think he looks at some of these other owners, throwing $200 million at players and thinks they’re idiots — idiots that unfortunately can affect the way he does business. You have to understand, it was in Hal’s formative years in the ’80s when he saw George at his worst in terms of throwing more and more good money at bad players like Pascual Perez, Dave LaPoint, Steve Kemp, Ed Whitson and Andy Hawkins.”

Let's review. By buying the Yankees in 1973, George Steinbrenner was able to take an under $10 million investment and build a team worth several billion. Tell me in what other legal business you can get that sort of rate of return.  Sounds pretty "smart" to me.

Again, Hal signed off on all of the modern big-spending Yankee deals. He also agreed to bring back Brian Cashman, the GM who has one tool in the toolbox -- the ability to spend money. Sure, Hal has made it clear he wants the payroll to go down, but that doesn't mean 1) that he doesn't bear his own share of responsibility for the Yankee payroll and 2) that he is going to sell the team anytime soon. Besides, there are four Steinbrenner children who would have to sign off on the sale.

O'Keeffe and Madden end their piece by quoting yet another anonymous source who says: “Hal hates the players and he hates the media.”

So there you have it. Michael O'Keeffe and Bill Madden have declared that the Yankees could be for sale soon, with the "evidence" for this based solely on rumors, speculation, and twisting around of the facts. I am eagerly waiting for the News' next report, about how Ferris Bueller passed out at 31 Flavors.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Squawker Media Alert: Lisa on radio at 12:30 p.m. today

Lisa will be squawking baseball with Mike Lindsley of Syracuse's The Score 1260 at 12:30 p.m. today. If you are in the Syracuse area, you can listen to her on 1260 AM on the radio. If not, check out the station's web site and listen to her there. Thanks!

Oh no! Mets have a better record than the Yankees!

Yeah, yeah, I know that it is still early. But the fact is that on May 18, 2012, with nearly a quarter of the season played, the New York Mets have a better record than the New York Yankees, despite the over $100 million payroll differential between the two. The Mets are 21-17, and the Yanks are 20-18.

Yankee fans are used to saying "See you in October" when it comes to slow starts. After all, they have had several very sluggish starts in recent years, and still made the playoffs. But to me, so far this season seems to have more of a 2008 feel (when they didn't make the postseason at all) than a 2006 feel.

You cannot go 3 for 41 with runners in scoring position in your last five games and expect to win. And really, I've had it with seeing Joe Girardi not bench Mark Teixeira to get some rest.

I once ended up in an emergency room due to a bad case of bronchitis -- I could not breathe. So I know how debilitating a bronchial infection can be. Meanwhile, Tex has a bad bronchial infection, yet he keeps on playing, despite not exactly doing the team much good by doing so. Teixeira keeps on saying how he's going to grind through this, which is silly. Take some time off, or, more to the point, Girardi ought to make him take some time off, and maybe Teixeira might actually get better at some point.  Put it this way -- if you cannot get through a day or a game without at least one coughing fit, it's time to take a day or two off, for goodness sake. Now there's talk that Tex might finally get a day off -- about a week or so too late.


So yeah, I am a little cranky this morning, especially knowing that the Mets have a better record than the Yanks. And that is with me jinxing the Mets with my appearance twice this year!  Squawker Jon and I were at Tuesday's Met loss. Believe it or not, we sat in front of a row of eight nuns, and they still couldn't outdo my jinxing powers!

Jesus Montero's Yankee Stadium batting average falls to .471

Before the Squawkers attended last night's return of Jesus Montero to Yankee Stadium, Lisa predicted that the former Yankee would hit a home run. And he did! 

Since Lisa has managed to jinx most Met games she has attended, I was hoping to return the favor, and it looked like it might happen when Montero's homer put the Mariners ahead in the sixth inning. But it was not to be.

Last night, the Mets blew a ninth-inning lead and their five-game winning streak came to an end. The only other notable win streak the Mets have had this year (four games) came to an end when Lisa and I went to the April 10 loss to the Nationals. Maybe I should just stay out of all ballparks with Lisa when the Mets go on a winning streak.

The apologists for the disastrous Montero-Michael Pineda trade can take heart in the fact that Montero's 1-for-4 evening dropped his Yankee Stadium batting average from .500 (15-for-30) to .471. His OPS in Yankee Stadium plummeted from 1.483 to 1.462.

Meanwhile, current Yankee catcher Russell Martin isn't enjoying the cozy confines of Yankee Stadium quite as much this season. Martin is hitting just .071 (3-for-42) at the Stadium with an OPS of  only .347.

While at Yankee Stadium, I got the meatball sandwich from Parm in the Great Hall. Along with the Lobel's steak sandwich, Yankee Stadium now has two concession stands with food worthy of the offerings at Citi Field.

Mets have better record than the Yankees

Squawker Lisa, in case you don't have access to the standings, I thought you should know that the Amazing Mets are 18-13 while the Yankees are 17-14. If the season ended today, the Mets would be in the playoffs thanks to the new system, while the fourth-place Yankees would be playing golf (maybe they could invite Josh Beckett).

Despite the NL East being much improved this year while the Mets cut their payroll by $50 million, the Mets are 13-5 so far against their divisional rivals. They have already swept series from the Phillies, Marlins and Braves. In the just-completed sweep of the Phillies, the Mets had to face Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, while both Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey missed the series.

Tonight, however, I won't get to watch the Mets make their first visit to the new Miami stadium because the Squawkers will be heading up to the Bronx to see Jesus Montero's first game back in New York.

Lisa was opposed to the Montero trade from the start, while I thought it was more evenhanded, though not without risk considering how poorly Michael Pineda did in the second half last year and how bad his record was pitching outside of Seattle.

Montero has played 29 games for Seattle and been the catcher in 12 of them. Montero is now hitting .268 with 4 homers and 16 RBI.

Current Yankee catcher Russell Martin is hitting .188 with 3 homers and 7 RBI.