Posted by keithjs on 6/5/2014 2:02:00 PM (view original):
2 years ago, Johan Santana threw the first no-hitter in Mets history.
From the ESPN article: "Mets manager Terry Collins said before the game that he wanted to limit Santana to a maximum of 110-115 pitches. Santana finished with a career-high 134."
It's been 2 years and poor Johan has not pitched a useful game since.
I'd rather lose the no hitter than lose my ace for 2 years.
Actually, that's not entirely true.
Johan got knocked around in his next two starts, then had three very effective starts (20 IP, 12 hits, 2 runs).
He hasn't pitched a useful game since the last of those three starts.
Still, it's not very smart to push a pitcher, already known to be somewhat fragile, well beyond his normal limits for the sole purpose of achieving a statistical anomaly.