Johan Santana - done for the year?

The Mets are 16.5 games out of first in the N.L. East and 14 games behind in the N.L. wildcard race.

Mets ace Johan Santana, who's being scratched from his Tuesday start, has elbow soreness.

Just as two plus two adds up to four, those two factors add up to making it time to shut down Santana for the year as Tim Smith of the NY Daily News argues.

"I'm terribly concerned, no question about it," [Mets manager] Jerry Manuel said Monday. "He's been pitching probably since the break (with soreness), but not to the level of discomfort he has now."

In Santana's place, the Mets will start Nelson Figueroa Tuesday.

"I know that he's a gamer and he wants to be out there with his teammates and fight through all the adversity that this team has had to go through," said [Mets reliever] Billy Wagner (who just returned from Tommy John surgery). "But I think if he tries to push it, and possibly injures himself worse, he's talking about his career. He's not talking about just one season."

On the season, Santana is 13-9 with an ERA of 3.13 and 146 strikeouts.

Not quite mid-season awards: N.L. Cy Young

Over the next day or two, I'm going to select my winner (i.e., current leader) and runner-up for the Cy Young and MVP (not to be confused with MP3) in both leagues.

It goes without saying, although I'll say it anyways, this is highly subjective and is merely my (well-thought-out, compelling, coherent) opinion.

That being said, I encourage that you provide feedback (and your selection, if you disagree) in the comments' section.

So, let's begin with the N.L. Cy Young Award.



The N.L. Cy Young Award goes to ... (drum roll, please) ... Matt Cain, San Francisco. With a 9-1 record, Cain is one of three nine-game winners in the N.L. Chad Billingsley (Dodgers) and Jason Marquis (Rockies) are the other two. He's also third in ERA (2.39) behind Johnny Cueto (Reds) and Dan Haren (D'Backs).

In his past five starts, Cain is 5-0 with three complete games. His three complete games lead the N.L. In his past five starts, he has 34 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings pitched. During that span, Cain has an ERA of 2.02.

With the exception of a five-inning performance in a 4-1 win over the Nationals, Cain has pitched six (or more) innings in every start.



Runner-up: Dan Haren, Diamondbacks - Haren leads the NL in innings pitched (101), strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.38), WHIP (0.82), BAA (.193) and is second in ERA (2.23). He is tied for third in strikeouts (96) with Chad Billingsley. He's pitched six (or more) innings in every start and he has only allowed more than three runs in one start (May 23rd).

While he has a mediocre win-loss record of 6-4, it's not his fault. He allowed only seven runs in 26 innings, which is an ERA of 2.42, in his four losses. His team gave him two runs (total) in those four losses as support. If only he and the D'Backs (29-39) had a better record...

Honorable Mention (not necessarily in order): Tim Lincecum (Giants), Johnny Cueto (Reds), Johan Santana (Mets), Chad Billingsley (Dodgers), Yovani Gallardo (Brewers), Josh Johnson (Marlins), Javier Vazquez (Braves)

Santana says he's "fine"

Mets ace Johan Santana had the worst performance of his major league career yesterday. In three short innings, he allowed nine hits, two walks and nine earned runs.

In his previous three losses on the season, Santana allowed a total of only three earned runs.

Per Burt Hubbuch of the New York Post, Santana admitted that he had some physical ailments - blisters on the middle finger of his left hand and on his toe as well as a sore back. Yet he claims those ailments have nothing to do with yesterday's outing and his 6.50 ERA over his past six starts.

"What happened is, I made a few mistakes locating my pitches," Santana said.

Pitching coach Dan Warthen says, "He's fought through [blister] almost a month, but now that it's healed, the ball plane has changed." Manager Jerry Manuel agreed, saying "physically, he's in good shape. It's a delivery issue."

Santana took exception to a reporter asking about a "dead arm," according to Hubbuch.

"Who calls that? You? How you know that?" Santana barked at a reporter who asked him about dead arm. "No, that's not even close. I'm fine. There's not much I can say. I'm fine."

Greinke, Santana are April's pitchers of the month

Kansas City Royals ace Zach Grienke was named the A.L. pitcher of the month for April. He was a perfect 5-0 in the month allowing only two earned runs in 36 innings pitched.

Grienke beat out Felix Hernandez (Mariners), Tim Wakefield (Red Sox) and Roy Halladay (Blue Jays).

So far in May, he's picking up where he left off. He's now 6-0 and has lowered his ERA to 0.40 after pitching a complete game shutout last night.

However, he doesn't believe he's the best pitcher in baseball.

“I think Johan (Santana) and Roy Halladay are the two best pitchers,” Greinke said. “Without a doubt. You’ve got to do it for at least three years. That’s my (guideline). When you do it for three years, then you can put your name in stuff like that.”

Speaking of Santana, he was named the N.L. pitcher of the month for April.

Santana went 3-1 in April with an ERA of 1.10. He struck out 44 batters in 32 2/3 innings.

He beat out Chad Billingsley (Dodgers), Dan Haren (Diamondbacks), Heath Bell (Padres) and Ryan Franklin (Cardinals).