Santana will get two extra days of rest
Johan Santana delivers to the plate. (June 1, 2012) Credit: David Pokress
Not a bad place for an encore. That decision causes the least disruption for the rest of the Mets' starting rotation. So Chris Young, who is coming back from shoulder surgery, will make his first start of the season Tuesday night in Washington and will be followed by spot starter Jeremy Hefner Wednesday and Dickey on Thursday.
"We talked about bringing R.A. back on short rest," Collins said. "I knew he could do it and he was willing to do it. I couldn't find anybody that liked the idea except R.A. He didn't mind it, but when you're 8-1 and pitching as well as he is, you don't want to disrupt the whole pre-start schedule he's on."
Santana said he didn't want to disrupt Dickey but also didn't want to miss a start. "They feel it's better to have an extra day, and I'm fine with it," Santana said. "We haven't forgotten here that I'm coming back from surgery."
With six days off, Santana will be on his normal pitch count.
"They go inside the heart and crimp something, like the cause of it," Niese said. "It's an outpatient thing they do. It only takes three days to recover. So I think we might be doing it All-Star break so I don't miss any starts."
Lindsey Duquette and her father, former Mets general manager Jim Duquette, have come through their kidney transplant surgeries and are recovering at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a spokesperson for the hospital said Monday.
SNY's coverage of Santana's no-hitter Friday was a ratings hit, attracting 744,000 viewers and 7.73 percent of New York- area homes from 9:45 to 10 p.m. Overall, the game averaged 4.18 percent of area homes. The postgame averaged a 2.64 rating, its highest since 2009.
With Neil Best
