Santana to skip start; Mets rout Cubs, 18-5

CHICAGO - The most important person on a mound Sunday at Wrigley Field did nothing to help the Mets in their 18-5 rout of the Cubs.

Johan Santana never even made it across the foul lines, but his pregame bullpen session - and the lengthy discussion that followed - ultimately convinced the Mets to skip their ace Tuesday in Washington.

Dillon Gee, who spent the season with Triple-A Buffalo, will take Santana's turn against the Nationals.

"They want to be very careful with everything," Santana said. "I'll agree with it. I'm a competitor, and every time I have a chance to go out there, I'm going to go out there. But at the same time, it's a decision that they made and I'm not going to go against it."

Santana is not completely recovered from a left pectoral muscle strain that forced him to leave Thursday's game after five innings and 65 pitches. But it took until Sunday, and the light "touch-and-feel" session, to come to the conclusion that it was pointless to risk Santana's long-term health for an essentially meaningless start.

The Mets finally admitted Sunday for the first time that they no longer are in contention. Both general manager Omar Minaya and Santana were asked if he would have pitched Tuesday if the team were in a "pennant race," and both answered in the affirmative.

"He could probably pitch, yeah," Minaya said. "But we decided to take that away from him."

Added Santana: "Of course, yeah, no question. I'm a competitor, and if this is a different situation, then no question I would be pitching."

Santana was watched closely by manager Jerry Manuel and pitching coach Dan Warthen as he cycled through his pitches from the bullpen mound, with trainer Ray Ramirez seeing the last few that he threw.

At the end, the group huddled for a while, but the Mets held off on the announcement until after they had a chance to consult their medical staff during the game.

"He feels that he can pitch through it," Manuel said. "But I don't feel that it's worth it to push it at this particular time. I don't feel it's in the best interests of him. I don't think it's in the best interests of the organization, the franchise, to push him at this particular point."

The past two seasons have shown that Santana is willing and able to pitch through discomfort. In 2008, he went 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA in September to earn pitcher of the month honors, only to discover at the end of the season that he needed surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. Last season, he battled bone chips in his left elbow until he finally was shut down Aug. 20 for season-ending surgery.

Despite initial concerns Thursday about a more serious issue involving his left shoulder, which later was diagnosed as the pectoral strain, Santana does not put this latest injury in the same category as the others.

"I know what pain feels like, believe me, and this is not even close to what it was back then," Santana said. "But I understand they want to be very careful, and if that's the right thing to do, then we'll do it."

Gee, 24, went 13-8 with a 4.96 ERA for Triple-A Buffalo, and he should feel right at home on these Mets, most of whom are imported from upstate New York. David Wright had the day off, and that left the starting lineup with six players who were in the minors on Opening Day.

But the 18 runs were the most the Mets had scored since 2005 and the 21 hits were tops since 2000. Ruben Tejada went 2-for-4 with five RBIs and his first major-league homer. Ike Davis went 4-for-6 with his second home run in as many days and 17th of the season.

Angel Pagan, Luis Hernandez and Carlos Beltran each had seven plate appearances for the Mets, who had three five-run innings and sent 19 men to the plate in the eighth and ninth.