Johan Santana is...

[Benjamin Grimm]

... the National League ERA Champion! That final shutout put him at 2.53, good enough to squeak ahead of Tim Lincecum.

He's the first Met pitcher to win the title since Doc Gooden back in 1985.

[duan]

a brilliant pitcher and worth all the money and talent we used to get him.

[metirish]

Excellent , congrats to Johan.

[Guest themetfairy]

Wow! Good for him!

WTG Johan

[Gwreck]

Even if I take my rose-colored glasses off, I'm having a hard time coming up with why Johan shouldn't win the Cy Young over Webb or Lincecum. Or Lidge.

Johan Santana
16-7
2.53 ERA (first)
234.1 IP (first)
206 Ks (second)

Tim Lincecum
18-5
2.62 ERA (second)
227 IP (second)
265 Ks (first)

Brandon Webb
22-7 (first in wins)
3.30 ERA (tenth)
226.2 IP (third)
183 Ks (eleventh)

Brad Lidge
41 Saves
0 Blown Saves
1.95 ERA (2nd among relievers with 50+ IP)

Edited September 29, 2008 by Guest

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

It's a shame his year more or less "went to waste" -- can't hope to get too many of those even from a guy like him.

[metirish]

bucket not finding the silver lining in anything today.

[Frayed Knot]

]Even if I take my rose-colored glasses off, I'm having a hard time coming up with why Johan shouldn't win the Cy Young over Webb or Lincecum. Or Lidge

I agree and have been following this "race" for weeks now.
In the end I suspect there are enough 'traditional' voters who will dismiss his chances on account of not enough wins.

Prediction:
1 - Lincecum
2 - Santana
3 - Webb
4 - Lidge

[Guest Iubitul]

... our Ace (thank God).

[Vic Sage]

It's sort of refreshing to have a big-time FA sign a huge megabuck deal with the Metsies and actually perform as expected... or, at least, as hoped.

waytago, Jo.

[G-Fafif]

...the one active Met besides Endy Chavez who could have come out during the closing ceremonies and been greeted with a standing ovation.

Pedro might have been received warmly since Pedro has always seemed to exist in the collective Shea mindset as above, beyond and apart from the Mets teams he's pitched for. Beltran might not have been booed. Everybody else would have been just by association with 2008 and 2007. 2006 wasn't looking so good either when it streaked across DiamondVision.

But never mind that. Yay for Johan and his ERA title!

[Benjamin Grimm]

Other notable stuff:

Jose Reyes led the NL in hits, at bats, triples, and caught stealing.

David Wright tied for the NL lead in sacrifice flies.

Pedro Feliciano led the league in games by a pitcher, also setting a new club record in that category. (Of course, the Mets would have been better off if they could have called on him less frequently.)

As noted above, Johan Santana led the league in innings and ERA. He and Oliver Perez tied with a bunch of other guys for the lead in games started.

And Perez led the league in walks.

David Wright set a new club record for total bases with 334, breaking the record of 330 that he set last year. He also tied Mike Piazza's record for runs batted in in a season with 124.

[batmagadanleadoff]

="Benjamin Grimm"]... the National League ERA Champion! That final shutout put him at 2.53, good enough to squeak ahead of Tim Lincecum.

Santana's ERA title was pretty much in the bag after his shutout of the Marlins last Saturday. Moreover, Johan was the NL ERA leader going into his last start of the season.

On Sunday, Lincecum needed to pitch 10 innings without giving up an earned run to have surpassed Santana. This was no squeaker.

[Vic Sage]

as between Santana and Lincecum, all other things being equal (and they pretty much are in this case, with Lincecum right behind Santana in ERA and IP, and ahead in Ks) you have to give the nod to the guy who had 18 wins for a team that only won 72 games, over a guy who won 16 of his teams 89 wins... Don't you?

You could certainly argue, however, that because the Mets were in a race all season, Santana had to pitch in more "big games" and invariably performed well, whereas SF was out of it since May and Lincecum had no "big games", so why should he be rewarded simply because the Giants had a better bullpen then the Mets?

I agree, with FK, however. the voters will go for the wins. One can only hope they aren't so myopic on the subject that they vote for Webb over Lincecum.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Personally, I'm fine with Lincecum winning the Cy. Santana shouldn't finish lower than second, though.

[Centerfield]

If it's Game 1 of the World Series, who would you want pitching for you? You'd be a fool to take anyone over Santana.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Centerfield wrote: If it's Game 1 of the World Series, who would you want pitching for you? You'd be a fool to take anyone over Santana.

You may have a point about choosing your WS starter. But that's no basis for deciding the Cy Young award.

[HahnSolo]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Personally, I'm fine with Lincecum winning the Cy. Santana shouldn't finish lower than second, though.

I pretty much agree with this. The thing that will bother me is the idiot voters who will simply dismiss Santana because of his win total.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Centerfield wrote: If it's Game 1 of the World Series, who would you want pitching for you? You'd be a fool to take anyone over Santana.

I would take Sabathia, because ever since the trade he has been dominating like nobody since Pedro at the turn of the millenium. 262 ERA+ over 17 starts, 7 of them complete games, with 5.12 K for every BB and a WHIP right at 1. There's no one better in the game right now, not even Johan.

That being said, I wouldn't give him the Cy Young, if only because of the league-specific nature of the award. Sort of unfair, yeah. Let's give him the CC Sabathia Award for Ridiculous Cross League Dominance.

[Guest AG/DC]

I really don't know who to vote for. I'm fine with any of the three. I'd probably pick Santana today, but another guy tomorrow.

[G-Fafif]

Centerfield wrote: If it's Game 1 of the World Series, who would you want pitching for you? You'd be a fool to take anyone over Santana.

CF, what is this "World Series" you speak of and what does it signify? I can find no evidence that the team Johan Santana pitches for has any connection to such an event.

[metsmarathon]

santana and lincecum both had 4.92 runs supporting their pitching efforts this season.

in 34 games started, each, santana had 28 quality starts to lincecum's 26.

santana had 5 tough losses to lincecum's 2

now, where lincecum gets the nod, is in DIPS ERA and component ERA, whihc means that given neutral defense, and, i think, given typical conversion rates of hits and walks into runs against, which may either be a controllable, repeatable skill, or it might not be.

lincecum also gets the nod in ERA+, 164 to 163

its really really close. i don't think johan'll get it, cos of the wins thing. objectively, i'm on a fence, i think. forced to choose, i'd say lincecum was ever so slightly better, and whether the relative pressures of new york versus san fran had any influence on their respective performance would fall outside my consideration.

[Centerfield]

G-Fafif wrote: ="Centerfield"]If it's Game 1 of the World Series, who would you want pitching for you? You'd be a fool to take anyone over Santana. CF, what is this "World Series" you speak of and what does it signify? I can find no evidence that the team Johan Santana pitches for has any connection to such an event.

Don't worry about it. It's only for teams with a bullpen.

[G-Fafif]

Centerfield wrote: ="G-Fafif"] Centerfield wrote: If it's Game 1 of the World Series, who would you want pitching for you? You'd be a fool to take anyone over Santana. CF, what is this "World Series" you speak of and what does it signify? I can find no evidence that the team Johan Santana pitches for has any connection to such an event. Don't worry about it. It's only for teams with a bullpen.

What's a bullpen?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Ben Grimm - "David Wright tied for the NL lead in sacrifice flies."

If only he had had one more so he could have won the sac fly title outright.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Excellent observation.

[Guest themetfairy]

G-Fafif wrote: ="Centerfield"] G-Fafif wrote: ="Centerfield"]If it's Game 1 of the World Series, who would you want pitching for you? You'd be a fool to take anyone over Santana. CF, what is this "World Series" you speak of and what does it signify? I can find no evidence that the team Johan Santana pitches for has any connection to such an event. Don't worry about it. It's only for teams with a bullpen. What's a bullpen?

Something we had once upon a time ago.

[Frayed Knot]

Rockin' Doc wrote: Ben Grimm - "David Wright tied for the NL lead in sacrifice flies." If only he had had one more so he could have won the sac fly title outright.

If only he had one more we'd be involved in a play-in game right now
(thinking back to last week's 8th inning disaster v Cubs)

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Precisely my point. I had his whiff following Murphy's leadoff triple in the 9th inning of Thursday nights 9-6 loss to the Cubs in extra innings in mind when I posted that.