Santana has aced his recovery

HOUSTON -- Regardless of whether they won or lost against the Astros Monday night, the Mets were assured of beginning May feeling pretty good about their April.

One reason for that? The return to health and effectiveness of their ace lefthander, Johan Santana, even though he hasn't won a game.

It's easy to quantify what Santana has done on the mound. He is 0-2 with a 2.25 ERA in five starts. He could be 4-1, but a lack of offensive support early and a blown lead by the bullpen Sunday in Denver have kept Santana winless.

It's harder to quantify what he means to the spirit of the Mets, who were a surprising 13-9 going into Monday night's series opener.

The Mets all too often get the worst possible outcomes when it comes to their injured players. But so far . . . not this time with a player who, with a $24-million salary, takes up more than a quarter of the team's $90-million payroll.

"I said in spring training, 'I think if anybody can come back from this, he'd be the guy,' " manager Terry Collins said Monday night. "And he has. I wouldn't say he's perfect. But I think he's healthy."

Santana had serious surgery in September 2010 when doctors repaired a tear of the anterior capsule in his pitching shoulder. It's an injury few pitchers have come back from successfully.

"I think everything that I have done has been working pretty good," Santana said. "I think the most important thing is that I feel good and I'm able to come back from one start to another without any problems. So everything has been positive, and that's the way I'm going to continue doing it."

Fanciful timelines that had Santana pitching for the Mets by last season's All-Star break turned out to be just wishful thinking. He missed all of 2011 and reported to this year's spring training hopeful -- but not 100 percent sure -- he could be ready by Opening Day. He was, and he threw five shutout innings against Atlanta.

"I think obviously because he's Johan Santana, there were expectations," Collins said. "But due to the seriousness of the injury that he had and the operation, everybody, including myself, we were hoping we were going to get quality innings out of him. And he's gone above and beyond it all."

Santana's only bad start was on April 17 against the Braves, when he allowed six runs (four earned) in 11/3 innings. In his most recent outing, on Sunday against the Rockies, Santana pitched six shutout innings but was deprived of a win when Tim Byrdak gave up a tying grand slam to Todd Helton. The Mets won in 11, 6-5.

"He doesn't have his best stuff, he doesn't have his best command and he absolutely competed his brains out to get through six innings," Collins said. "That's what he brings."

The Mets have been extremely cautious, giving Santana extra rest when possible. Sunday's start was his first on four days' rest; his next will be on five on Saturday vs. Arizona. There's no real guide to how many innings the 33-year-old will able to throw by season's end.

"You can't possibly estimate that," Collins said. "But I'm looking more at starts than innings pitched. If he runs out there 30 times, he's going to be deep into games because he competes."