Johan Santana Makes History for the New York Mets with First No-Hitter

Johan Santana has thrown the first *no hitter in New York Mets history. Or maybe the 36th one-hitter in Mets history. Either way.

Aided by an incredible catch out in left by hometown hero Mike Baxter and a blunder by the third base umpire, the 33-year-old lefty managed to squeeze out an 8-0 no-hit victory over the St. Louis Cardinals Friday night.

Carlos Beltran, who was enjoying his first game back at Citi Field since the Mets traded him last July, hit a liner over third base in the sixth that hit the foul line and probably should have been called fair, but whoopsie, it was ruled foul... and the rest is literally history.

Santana, who was more or less just hoping to stay healthy this season, wound up striking out eight and walking five while credited with the first no-hitter in the entire 51-season, 8,020 game-history of the New York Mets. Pretty special... and fortunate that there's not more instant replay involved in the game.

[Amazin' Avenue]

Season Previews: New York Mets

With Spring Training well underway, it's time for one of our favorite things in all the world: Season Previews. Five years ago, they began as a semi-serious analysis and ended up as half-assed haiku. We're just gonna go with what we know. Polishing off our preview of the National League East, here's our version of the 2012 New York Mets.

Johan Santana
Jon Niese and Mike Pelfrey are
Pitching with Dickey

Kevin Slowey and
He climbed Kilimanjaro
Got into trouble

Ike Davis at first
David Wright's the hot corner
He is delicious

Ruben Tejada
Turning DPs with Murphy
Ronny Cedeno?

Good riddance Jose
Thanks for the batting title
And breaking our hearts

The New York Mets are Not Impressed with R. A. Dickey's Adventurous Offseason Plans

Most of the time, when people have enough moxie to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, they are commended for their bravery and ambition. However, when these people are major league ballplayers expected to stay healthy at least until Spring Training, it is considered a no-no.

The New York Mets and general manager Sandy Alderson were troubled by the news of one of their relievers having the audacity to go mountain climbing in the offseason. Although they failed to advise against it in Dickey's contract, apparently they assumed he would just know better. Obviously they were mistaken. Although Alderson sent Dickey a letter in an attempt to dissuade him from the ascent, it seems the right-hander doesn't much give a crap.

Dickey, along with Colorado Rockies pitcher Kevin Slowey, has chosen this intense activity for a charitable cause, benefiting the Bombay Teen Challenge, which fights sex trafficking in India. Here's a snippet from his blog post in the New York Times:

The time for second-guessing is over. The research has been done, the miles have been hiked, the lungs have been taxed and the equipment has been gathered. In five days, I will travel via Detroit to Amsterdam, finally arriving at Kilimanjaro’s airport after a journey of 18 hours 25 minutes, and 8,674 miles. Needless to say, if you have a hard time with planes, you might want to scoot this one down your list of things to do a bit...

New York Mets Finalize Two-Year Deal with Frank Francisco

Frank Francisco has agreed to a two-year contract worth roughly $12 million with the New York Mets, who clearly think he's worth more than the $4 million he made last season with the Toronto Blue Jays. Silly Mets.

The right-handed reliever went 1-4 with 17 saves and a 3.55 ERA as the Blue Jays closer last season, his seventh in the big leagues. He had one of his better seasons with the Texas Rangers back in 2009 when he saved 25 games, but his ERA has improved the last two years.

Francisco, a 32-year-old strikeout machine, has appeared in at least 50 games in each of the last five seasons. He has 302 strikeouts since '07, which ranked in the top five among American League relievers. After the All-Star break, he was 7-for-7 in save opportunities for Toronto with a 1.37 ERA, a roll the Mets are hoping continues into next season.

He may be most remembered for an incident in 2004 when an altercation broke out in the stands of Oakland Coliseum during a game between the Rangers and Athletics. Francisco launched a chair, which happened to hit a woman right in the face and break her nose. He was arrested of course. Oddly enough, then-Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers was also involved in the incident. Ah, those were the days.

[MLB]

The New York Mets Have Been Busy, Make Trade with San Francisco Giants

In less than two hours on Tuesday at the winter meetings, the New York Mets made some serious moves. First, they signed free agent relievers Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco to somehow beef up their bullpen and add some much-needed depth to their situation. Then, they shipped center fielder Angel Pagan to the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Andres Torres and right-hander Ramon Ramirez. Busy, busy.

Manager Terry Collins is awfully proud of their work:

New York Mets Believe Jon Rauch Will Make a Great Reliever, Hand Him $3.5 Million

When there are players demanding upwards of $200 million for a decade of service, it's hard to take tiny deals like the one the New York Mets just made with Jon Rauch seriously. In fact, it's hard to take the Mets seriously at all.

In a move meant to "bolster" their bullpen Tuesday evening, the team signed Rauch to a $3.5 million, one-year deal. This is the Mets' first move of the winter meetings, and for their sake, it's hopefully not their last. Nothing against the 6'-11" pitcher other than the fact that he's absolutely terrible and looks exactly like a crackhead.

The 33-year-old right-hander, who began last season as the Toronto Blue Jays closer, posted a 4.85 ERA in 53 relief appearances with five blown saves in 16 opportunities.

Miguel Cabrera Earns First American League Batting Title

Miguel Cabrera enjoyed a 2-for-4 night to wrap up the American League batting title in his AL Central-Champion Detroit Tigers' 5-4 win over the Cleveland Indians Wednesday night.

Cabrera led off the sixth inning with a bloop single to right field before sending a double sailing down the left-field line in his next at bat to clinch the batting crown. I'd like to believe that even if he hadn't gone hitless in his first two at-bats, he would still have finished the game like he's responsible for doing as a team player. Unlike some selfish, stat-padding, batting champs we know.

The 28-year-old first baseman finished the season hitting .344, six points ahead of Texas Rangers outfielder Michael Young and Boston Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, both polishing off the year with a .338 average. Valiant effort, fellas. Cabrera had this to say about his achievement:

"It feels great. I got a couple hits. The only thing I haven't had in my career -- a batting title."

Jose Reyes Wins NL Batting Title, Leaves Game Early

Jose Reyes is your 2011 National League Batting Champion.

The New York Mets shortstop hit a bunt single in the bottom of the first inning of his team's 3-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday, and promptly removed himself from the game to a chorus of boos in order to keep his 2-point lead over Ryan Braun in the NL batting race intact.

Braun, who would have either had to go 3-for-3 or 3-for-4 to edge Reyes, ended up with an 0-for-4 night instead during his Milwaukee Brewers 7-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nice try pal, but we still totally love you. Besides, at least your team is going to the playoffs. Matt Kemp was vying for the batting title as well as the NL Triple Crown a little bit ago, but he totally blew it.

Anyway, I'm not too impressed with Reyes' leaving the game early just to call himself the batting champ. Something seems super lame about that. Texas Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson (who apparently is a bit testy on Twitter) thinks so as well:

Delicious Interleague Goodness

There's the Subway Series, the Beltway Series, the Lone Star Series, North Side vs. South Side, the Freeway Series, the Highway Series, the Bay Bridge Series, the Sunshine Series, and plenty more exciting, nameless contests during Interleague play.

On this 15th anniversary of Interleague action, let's revisit the first weekend of action.

Every year since 2004, the American League has come out of Interleague play with the best record. After the first weekend, however, things are all knotted up at 21-21. Here's a miniature breakdown of just a fraction of what went down:

Tim Lincecum Punches Out a Dozen Mets

Tim Lincecum struck out 12 New York Mets Wednesday evening in yet another dominating performance for a 2-0 win.

To make matters even more exciting, our favorite stoner hurler surpassed Christy Mathewson in Giants lore for most double-digit strikeout games in franchise history with 29, including three already this season. God, that's hot.

Big Time Timmy Jim gave up five hits over seven innings, using 127 pitches. He struck out his final five batters before four Giants relievers finished the job, including Brian Wilson, who worked a perfect ninth for his 10th save of the season.

The Mets struck out total of 16 times, which is a season-high for a nine inning game. Give them a break though, they just faced three Cy Young winners in four games between Lincecum, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.

Happy Trails Carlos Delgado

It's okay, we thought Carlos Delgado already retired, too. I guess now it's official!

The former first baseman for the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays, who hasn't played since May 2009 due to a hip injury, announced his intent to hang up his glove Wednesday. Unfortunately, he was just 27 longballs away from reaching the 500 Home Run Club after 17 big league seasons, where he accumulated a .280 career batting average.

Wally Backman Amazes and Frightens Us

These days, Wally Backman is rarely referred to as a "former New York Mets second baseman." No, now he is better known as the lunatic South Georgia Peanuts skipper with hilarious anger management and self-control issues.

Seriously, he needs his mouth washed out with a stiff bar of soap. And for me to say that is pretty incredible considering I have the vocabulary of a sailor.

Obviously, every manager in the history of America's Pastime has disagreed with one call or another made by an umpire. Sometimes that call is a disputed home run.

Season Previews: New York Mets

With Spring Training already underway, it's time for one of our favorite things in all the world: Season Previews. Four years ago, they began as a semi-serious analysis and ended up as half-assed haiku. We're just gonna go with what we know. Continuing with our preview of the National League East, here are the New York Mets.

Bye bye Castillo,
So long, Oliver Perez.
New York's cleaning house.

Johan Santana
Claims to be ok... But...
Is he out for the season?

We LOVE David Wright.
Isn't he adorable
Hanging out at third?

Will K-Rod Control
His temper this year? Or will
The team trade his ass?

Hope Beltran's knee stops
Hurting. Reyes is at short.
Bay patrolling left.

The team was screwed by involved
With Bernie Madoff (?). Oops! Mo'
Money, Mo' Problems.

[Amazin' Avenue] | [Mets Grrl] | [Rising Apple]

Mets Offer Capuano, Buchholz One-Year Deals

The New York Mets have desperately added two has-been pitchers to their staff in Chris Capuano and Taylor Buchholz.

Each of them agreed to one-year-contracts this week with Capuano getting $1.5 million and Buchholz receiving a $600,000 non-guaranteed agreement. Better than nothing, I suppose.

This One is for the Ladies

This one goes out to all of our female readers, and anyone else who enjoys objectifying ballplayers, of course.

Be patient: due to it's awesomeness, this video may take a few seconds to load. Just refresh the page if you can't keep your pants on. Happy Holidays!

Who Doesn't Want Cliff Lee on Their Team?

Judging from our recent Winter Meeting Wish List collaboration, damn near everyone wants Cliff Lee for the Holidays.

There are a few wild rumors floating around this morning about the Washington Nationals offering the former Texas Rangers ace a pile of money to help save their organization, which is likely not even close to the truth.

Though we have no clue where the 2008 Cy Young Award winner will end up, we can be sure he's looking for a long-term deal around seven years.

This brings us to this awesome dramatic reenactment via PM Sports. Enjoy!

K-Rod Hurts Himself, Not Getting Paid

The New York Mets are withholding Francisco Rodriguez’s salary while he’s sidelined. Also, they're considering changing his contract to a non-guaranteed deal... mostly because he's a poor-decision-making, ticking time bomb.

The injured All-Star closer, who decked his future father-in-law at Citi Field last week, was placed on the disqualified list on Tuesday, nearly a week after he tore a ligament in the thumb of his pitching punching hand. Rodriguez underwent thumb surgery on Tuesday and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Reality check: K-Rod could be released without being paid most of his 2011 salary, which the player's association will no doubt dispute.

[MLB] | [Lo Hud Mets Blog] | [Citi Field of Dreams]

K-Rod Kicked His Future Father-in-Law's Ass

At one point or another many of you may have pondered beating the living crap out of your father-in-law. But do you? Most likely not... your wife would probably be pretty pissed off.

Good news: you can now live out your dream vicariously through Francisco Rodriguez.

According the police, the New York Mets closer was arrested and charged with third-degree assault late Wednesday night after "a scuffle" with his girlfriend's dad at Citi Field. One reporter who witnessed the ordeal tried to ask what was up and K-Rod replied:

The Sexytime Pornvano Stache

We're fairly certain Carl Pavano's mustache has magical powers.

The Minnesota Twins right-hander, who is now 9-6 with a 3.33 ERA on the season, three-hit the Mets Saturday afternoon for a 6-0 shutout in his second consecutive complete game.

You may also find his two hits and sacrifice impressive, which helped to end the Twins' four-game skid.

On the other side of the ball, former Twin and adulterer Johan Santana struggled early. Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel and Delmon Young all drove in runs in the first by laying off that sneaky changeup. Denard Span added an RBI double in the fourth before Kubel homered off Fernando Nieve in the ninth to hand the Mets just their third loss in 16 games at Citi Field this season.

Thank you, Sexytime Pornvano Stache.

[MLB] | [Twinkie Town] | [Knuckleballs Blog]

Johan Santana Cheated on His Wife

I am not impressed with New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana. At all. Not to generalize, but seriously, when will (a lot of) male athletes start to show some respect for their marriages?

Here's a snippet of the exclusive from TMZ...

TMZ has learned New York Mets star pitcher Johan Santana was accused in a police report of sexual battery that allegedly went down on a Florida golf course ... but the case went nowhere...

Law enforcement sources say DNA evidence did prove there was intercourse, but, according to a Sheriff's document, the prosecutor concluded, "There was not enough evidence to prove lack of consent, the alleged victim's statement is not consistent with other witnesses." The case was closed out on December 8, 2009.

I am so grossed out right now. In fact, I hope his wife Yasmile, was sleeping with the pool boy. Your thoughts?

[Sherrif's Document]

***Speaking of the Twins and mustaches... check out RandBall's Evolution of the Pavstache, which we like to refer to as the Sexytime Pornvano.