Rain pushes anxious Santana back until Tuesday

If it were up to him, Johan Santana wouldn't have to wait a week to get back on the mound so he could start erasing the memories of the shortest outing of his career.

Santana was steamed about his performance in a 9-3 loss to the Braves last Tuesday, and he couldn't stop thinking about it.

"I wanted to pitch the next day after that last start, just put it that way," he said before Sunday's game against the Giants was rained out and rescheduled as part of a single-admission doubleheader today. "But again, it's not the way it is. It was just a bad outing, that's all it is.

"You just put it back and hope that the next one, you can bounce back and do better."

Santana initially was on tap to start Monday, but the weather changed the Mets' plans for their ace, who's still fighting his way back from shoulder surgery performed 19 months ago. Terry Collins elected to have reliever Miguel Batista oppose Tim Lincecum in the opener; Sunday's scheduled starter, Dillon Gee, will match up with Madison Bumgarner in the nightcap.

Collins thought that was the best way to go about it. "Because of the whole situation, we were concerned about the weather [Monday]," he said after the game was called. "But to save it -- look, I think we're going to play and I think the weather will be fine, but we decided not to double up the two guys and all of a sudden have to scramble around in four days to see who's going to pitch."

So that gives Santana -- 0-2 with a 3.97 ERA in three starts -- an extra day to work through things. He's coming off that forgettable performance in Atlanta in which he failed to make it out of the second inning, something that had never happened before in his 12-year career.

Collins went to take the ball from Santana after he recorded just four outs and yielded six runs (four earned) and four hits, tossing 55 pitches.

"Let me tell you something: That's definitely not the way you want to do it," Santana said. "I definitely want to help and go deeper in the games. I'm still working my way back and trying to go deeper in games. But at the same time, they want to make sure that everything is fine and I don't put too much pressure on my shoulder, which is understandable.

"But at the same time, I want to compete. But they are watching from the outside, so they are able to tell and know when to stop. It's nothing wrong. You just turn the page and go back and start a new one."

Santana, who reiterated his health isn't an issue and that he feels fine, said the staff is simply sticking to the script they came up with months back, just to make sure there aren't any major -- or even minor -- setbacks.

"We are on the same page," he said. "We talked about these things a long time ago, that even though I'm here, we still have to watch everything. I'm trying to do everything the way I used to do it and that's the approach I have. They are watching, but we are all on the same page."

He's extremely gratified to be on that page again after walking off the mound in Atlanta 19 months ago with pain in his shoulder.

"That's my biggest thing," Santana said. "Just to be around and be part of this team and do all the things that we used to do, it means the whole world to me, and that's the way I look at it. Whatever it takes, however I can help, I'll do it.

"I'm going to have good days, I'm going to have bad days. But the good thing is I'm here and I'm making my adjustments. I'm still putting things together."