Following last night’s win over the Phillies, Jayson Stark wrote an article for ESPN about how Johan Santana brings the Mets to a new level. 

Stark initially speculates at how vast the difference last year could have been if it were Johan pitching in our final game of the season.  He then asks:

How much of a difference might Johan Santana make this season in the life of the NL East? Well, it’s still about five months too soon to answer that one. But Santana gave quite the spectacular sneak preview Friday in a 6-4 Mets victory in which the score — and his final pitching line — bore no relationship to how dominating he actually was.

 He was so dominant last night it was phenomenal.  There were only a few pitches the whole entire night that were even possible to hit.  He was an artist last night and he was consistently painting the black.

Stark also leaves us with a quip about his feelings on the importance of this start:

So yeah, it was April. But if this was just another game on the schedule, Vegas is just another dusty town in Nevada.

So true, his starts tell us so much about his importance to this team.  Unfortuantely, he can only pitch every fifth day.  Hey - a win today counts just as much in the wins column as it does in September.  Let’s win ‘em now so that we’re not in a situation like last year.

Oh, and we’ve won four in a row and as I’ve said in the Hot Foot Bleachers - the lucky Mets tube socks almost always result in four game winning streaks.  So, the fate had been sealed on these last four game, so we’re back to fate today as the luck of the Mets tube socks wear off.  Maybe if we’re lucky, the momentum from the lucky Mets tube socks will drive us even further…