The Stopper

Last time I posted I wrote about Johan Santana. The Mets were coming off a victory against the Cardinals and we needed Johan to power us to consecutive wins for only the second time in June.

"When we think of the role and importance of an ace, we often think of his position as the team's 'stopper', the guy who doesn't let a 3-game losing streak turn into four games," I wrote. "When Johan Santana goes to the mound today, he'll assume a different mantle. His role will be to act as the team's extender, not their stopper."

Sure enough, Johan did his job that day, pitching 7 innings and guiding the Mets to a 3-2 victory. The win was the Mets' third in four games against St. Louis, a good team. You liked what you saw.

But then you watched what happened over the weekend and you watched what happened last night and all the positive vibes vanished. Talk of a renaissance disappeared. The question on SNY last night was whether it was time to push the panic button.

I was speaking with the newly-engaged Lister (congrats man) last night, and he made an excellent point. The Phillies being a deeply flawed team, the Mets could find themselves in a position where two hot weeks toward the end of the season are enough to propel them to a division title.

Now, we don't have a great track record of producing hot weeks in Septemeber, but the point stands. The Mets aren't buried yet. So long as they're not, it's not time to hit the panic button.

They just need to stay afloat. They've played piss poor baseball, that's for sure, but they're still in the thick of the division race.

In order to stay there we need Johan to step up today. We need him to act in that traditional ace role, we need him to be the stopper. We need him to halt this 4-game losing streak right where it is, clean the slate and get the team pointed back in a positive direction.

It's a heavy burden but that's why they pay him the big bucks. Let's do it.

- A.F.O.M.G.