Johan Santana is suffering from blisters:
If there are no excuses from Santana, there may be an explanation for why his velocity has decreased by about three miles an hour and why he has not been as intimidating as usual in recent outings. With the seemingly endless list of injuries that have affected the Mets, it is perhaps appropriate that Santana is aching, too.
Although Santana insisted that he was not injured, he and Dan Warthen, the Mets’ pitching coach, revealed that Santana, a left-hander, had been bothered by a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand since late May. He had a blister on his left big toe for about the same period and, about a month ago, felt soreness in his back.
For a proud pitcher who described himself as feeling fine, Santana sounded more like Humpty Dumpty. Warthen said Santana’s blister might have caused him to change his grip on the ball, which could have accounted for the dip in velocity. Warthen said he had noticed that some of Santana’s fastballs were cutting instead of remaining on their path. When a ball cuts, it loses velocity.
After today, maybe the Mets should have Johan miss a start and give the blisters a chance to heal. The Red Sox did that with Josh Beckett, and he ended up very fresh for the playoffs.
Posted by David Pinto at 11:11 pm | Injuries | Permalink | 1 Comment
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June 15th, 2009 @ 8:19 am
PICKLE BRINE for the blisters!!