Two losses, 0.00 ERA

Once again, today's top baseball story took place off the field. And once again, it involves performance-enhancing substances.

But let's forget about Roger Clemens and the book that just came out about him to dwell on what's happening on the diamond.

Here's an interesting number: 0.78. That's Johan Santana's earned-run average so far this season. He has a 4-2 record for the New York Mets.

Here's another number: 5.46. That's teammate Mike Pelfrey's ERA. Pelfrey is 4-0.

Santana has continued his extraordinary pitching after arriving in the Big Apple from the Twin Cities, where he twice was the Cy Young Award winner. As a Met, he has a 2.25 ERA in 41 starts. His record is 20-9 for a season and a quarter, which is pretty darned good. But it should be a whole lot better.

Last night, for example, Santana surrendered an unearned run to the Braves in the first inning and went into the seventh with the scored tied 1-1. With one out and with his 108th pitch, he gave up a single to Kelly Johnson.

With Santana's pitch count that far over the century mark, Mets manager Jerry Manuel made the obligatory call for a reliever.

Now, the Mets' bullpen generally gets the blame for the team's failures the past few seasons, but it was supposed to be vastly improved this year. At least, that's what Pirates announcers Bob Walk and Greg Brown were saying over the weekend. Then again, all pitching staffs tend to look pretty good against Pittsburgh.

At any rate, the Braves proceeded to pound the Mets' arson squad for nine hits over the last 2 2/3 innings, turning the game into an 8-3 blowout. An error by New York shortstop Jose Reyes that would have ended the seventh didn't help matters as Santana ended up with the loss on two unearned runs.

What would have happened had Manuel left him in the game is up for conjecture.

In Santana's other loss this season, 2-1 to Florida, both the runs also were unearned. Outfielder Danny Murphy's error was the culprit on that occasion.

Let's go back to 2008. Santana logged a stellar 16-7 record. But at least once a month, he was victimized by lack of run support and/or poor relief pitching:

• April 6: The Braves score once off Santana in his seven innings, but that's one more than John Smoltz surrenders on way to a 3-1 Atlanta victory.


• May 4: The Diamondbacks score once off Santana in his six innings, but the Mets can muster only a tie to that point. Finally, New York scores three runs in the ninth for the win.


• June 12: Santana has the Diamondbacks shut out 4-0 through seven innings, but he's thrown 116 pitches. Joe Smith opens the eighth and gives up two runs, then Billy Wagner surrenders two more in the ninth. Arizona goes on to win 5-4 in 10.


• July 22: With the Mets leading 5-2 in the eighth inning, Manuel sends Argenis Reyes in to pinch hit for Santana. Reyes hits a weak grounder. Duaner Sanchez, Smith and Pedro Feliciano contrive to give up sixth runs in the ninth.


• Aug. 7: Santana gives up a single to open the eighth with a 3-1 lead over the Padres. Five Mets relieves give up two runs to tie the game before David Wright wins it with a walk-off homer.


• Sept. 13: Manuel yanks Santana with a 2-0 lead after consecutive singles by the Braves to open the seventh. In come four relievers in that very inning alone to cause a 3-2 Mets loss.

Santana is earning his massive paycheck for the Mets so far, and if he starts running into some better luck, an NL Cy Young Award probably will be headed his way.

First game

Baseball fans tend to have vivid memories of the first major-league games they attended, and I'm no different.

On Saturday, April 14, 1973, our dad drove my brother and me from home in Harrisburg to Veterans Stadium, to see the Phillies play the Mets. We picked that night because Steve Carlton, who was coming off a 27-win season for a 59-win team, was scheduled to pitch for Philadelphia.

I'd never seen a structure as immense as the Vet, which seated more than 60,000 at the time. As we walked toward the stadium, Dad pointed toward the columns at the top and joked, "Those are people standing up there because there aren't any seats."

We squinted to determine if those really were people and worried that, with Carlton on the mound, we might not be able to get tickets. Turns out the attendance that night was only 11,000-plus, so we were able to buy general admission, no problem. I think it cost a total of $7 for the three of us.

I remember the vendors walking around selling beer (I wasn't interested in that yet) and hot dogs, which they kept in portable heating units strapped to their necks and sold for what seemed like the unreasonably high price of a dollar apiece.

I remember the deep green of the Astroturf; the yellow, orange and red seats differentiating the various levels; and the striking symmetry of the Vet. Since I'd never been to a "traditional ballpark" like Forbes Field or Connie Mack Stadium, the newly designed stadiums that became known as "concrete ashtrays" were just fine with me.

I remember looking into center field and seeing the legendary Willie Mays. He might have been 42 years old, but his presence was a thrill for a little kid like me.

Most of all, I remember a couple of rookies who were available before the game to sign our yearbook. Their names were Bob Boone and Mike Schmidt. Boone went on to set the record for most games caught, since broken by Carlton Fisk. Schmidt, of course, went on to Cooperstown.

Boy, I wish I still had that yearbook.

As for the game, I remember the Phillies winning and Carlton pitching well. I looked it up, and he actually pitched a complete game in a 7-3 victory. I also remember that I'd never heard of his mound opponent, Jim McAndrew, before. It turned out that McAndrew, once a highly regarded prospect, was in his final season with the Mets and next-to-last in his career.

Things went much better for Carlton, who retired with 329 victories, second to Warren Spahn among lefthanders. But 1973 was far from his best season; he ended up losing 20 games as the Phils ended up in the basement again. The Mets went on to the World Series.

We attended several more games in '73, including one at Three Rivers Stadium, where we saw Willie Mays a final time. (Unfortunately, he fell down and hurt himself.) But the memories of those other games are lost in a haze compared with the first one.

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Trivia #10: Which pitcher's team failed to score a single run for him in his first four major-league starts? For the answer, scroll down and look to the right.