Johan Santana. Photo by: Stacy Podelski
From Seaver to Darling to Gooden the New York Mets have had a long tradition of great pitching in New York. The one thing that has always eluded the franchise in Queens, who is now celebrating their 50th Anniversary, was the no-hitter.
On a rainy Friday night at Citi Field, Johan Santana finally reached that summit of pitching, behind some magical moments on the field. One such moment came from New York-native Mike Baxter sacrificed his body in the top of the seventh inning to chase down a Yadier Molina fly ball.
The offense backed Johan in a big way as New York was able to defeat the reigning World Series Champions by a final of 8-0 on a magical night in New York City sports.
Going beyond the pitch count that Terry Collins and company had for the lefty during the course of the season; as Santana is making everyone within the Mets organization forget the fact that he had surgery to repair his anterior capsule-in the arm that helped to no-hit the Cardinals.
Leading the charge offensively was Lucas Duda who drove in four RBI’s in the game; following was Daniel Murphy with this three RBI’s. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Omar Quintanilla both finished the night with two hits.
In the end the night was about a legacy, a memory that will never be forgotten by fans of the Orange and Blue. It was about the guts and tenacity of a pitcher who will now be immortalized in the history of New York sports-it was about Johan Santana and the first no-hitter in the history of the New York Mets.