Santana likely to miss entire Mets season — maybe more

It looks like Johan Santana may never throw a pitch for the New York Mets ever again after an MRI exam reveal a possible re-tear on his left shoulder.

General manager Sandy Alderson announced the news on Thursday evening, saying Santana underwent the MRI in New York and would decide over the weekend whether to have the same surgery he had in September 2010, according to The New York Post.

Alderson said the second surgery is a strong possibility.

"We don’t know when it happened, how it happened," Alderson said. "What we do know is that at some point, symptoms appeared, and they worsened, rather than improved. It’s possible Johan will be able to shed more light on that, but at this point we simply don’t know."

Santana, in the final season of a six-year, $137.5 million contract, likely won't pitch this year, and it remains to be seen if he will ever pitch again.

Much has been made of Santana's slide after his workhorse-like no-hitter last June 1.  After the historic 134-pitch Mets' first no-no, he struggled through ten games before being put on the DL for an inflamed back.  Santana never seemed to really recover.

The lefthander experienced weakness in his left shoulder during spring training and was flown to New York on Wednesday for an examination by Dr. David Altcheck, who made the original diagnosis of a re-tear. The diagnosis was confirmed by Dr. James Andrews and Dr, Lewis Yocum on Thursday.

It's hard to pinpoint when the possible re-tear occurred because Santana has been resting a stiff lower back most of the winter but, either way, seeing Santana pitch another game in Mets' orange and blue looks pretty slim.

"If this diagnosis proves to be correct, I think in all likelihood Johan will be lost to the Mets for the season," Alderson said.

Antawn Jamison part of the Yankees' Bleacher Creatures 'roll call'

Antawn Jamison was spotted in the bleachers of Yankee Stadium before Game 1 of the Subway Series between the Yankees and Mets Friday night.  The Cleveland Cavaliers forward was part of the Bleacher Creatures' first inning ritual of the Yankees roll call and even had his name called too.  Jamison tipped his Yankees cap to the cheering fans.

I don't know why the NBA star chose to sit way out on the planks when there are plenty of luxury seats available even with the two rivals at— or near the top— of their divisions.  Maybe because it's more fun to sit with the Creatures and the primo seats cost $2500 each!

The first game pitted Hiroki Kuroda against Johan Santana— in his first outing since throwing the first no-hitter in Mets history.  All the anticipation of Santana breaking Johnny Vander Meer's 74-year old record of hurling two straight no-no's was moot after Robinson Cano took the Mets pitcher deep with a two-run homer in the second inning.



I don't know what connection the North Carolina-raised Jamison has with the Yankees but maybe he was just trying to get spotted by some of the Knicks brass.

The 35-year old averaged over 17 points last season and still has game.  Now he has some New York fans too.

Comedian Bill Maher buys minority stake in New York Mets

You've got to be joking. Comedian Bill Maher has jumped on the New York Mets bandwagon and bought a minority stake in ownership of the team.

In a surprise announcement before Sunday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals, the political commentator and comic said he purchased one of the reported 12 minority stakes available to investors over the winter, reports the Newark Star-Ledger.

"First of all, I think it's a great investment," Maher said.  "People sometimes forget that there's only one National League franchise in New York City and they're not making anymore.  I'm a Met fan all my life and I think it would be a great place."

Think the liberal leftie will be able to get along with Mets who bat from the right?

Neither Maher or the Mets organization would comment on the percentage of his ownership or how much he paid for it, but he did make the purchase before the Mets started winning and got their first no-hitter.

Maher— who was raised in the northern New Jersey suburb of River Vale— said he always followed the Mets but never intended to buy a piece of a sports franchise.  He became interested in the Mets after seeing stories about the Wilpon family offering minority shares of the team due to the team's overwhelming debt— as a result of their association with  jailed Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff.  The 56-year old Maher— who resides in Los Angeles— began thinking about investing in his favorite team over the winter.

"It happened months ago," Maher said about the deal.  "It's the first time I've been in New York, so we didn't say anything. But I read about it  in the paper in December saying the Mets  were available— that you could buy these limited partnerships."

The host of his HBO show "Real Time with Bill Maher" won't have as much control over the team as he does with his guest panelists.  His new official title will be "New Partner," said Mets Vice-president of Marketing and Communications, David Newman.

And if you think Maher might be taking swings at the political right with David Wright, Ike Davis and Johan Santana instead of Cornel West, Rachel Maddow or Seth MacFarlane— you're out of luck.

"I'm just a fan," Maher said. "I'm not going to get involved.  I think my role is going to be bringing luck to the team— they didn't have a no-hitter for 50 years, I buy in and I come to town and there's a no hitter.  Draw your own conclusions."

Johan Santana gets 'trashed' at practice

The New York Mets season hasn't even started and the team's ace, Johan Santana, may already be preparing fans for the dumps.

Santana joked around with photographers yesterday by putting a big gray garbage can over his head during an idle moment at practice.

Call it garbage time in Port St. Lucie.

Maybe the left-hander should have been wearing one of those blue recycling bags since Santana— who missed all of last season while recovering from shoulder surgery— faced hitters Thursday for the first time since tossing four innings in an Instructional League game on Sept. 30

"I felt pretty good," Santana said after the outing. "I was able to throw for the first time having batters standing up at the plate and swing the bat.  It was pretty good."

Santana threw 43 pitched during two stints Thursday, resting in between. 

He is expected to throw a light bullpen session today and have a long-toss before starting s split-squad game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday.

If Santana's arm doesn't gain full strength by the season opener, expect to see a lot of Mets fans sporting garbage cans over their heads this season.

Meet the Meh'ts?