Santana Brilliant in Citi Field Debut

METS 1

BREWERS 0

It was a simply gorgeous day to be at the ballgame Saturday in Queens, New York, as Johan Santana made his first appearance in brand new Citi Field, and made the place sparkle with an electrifying seven inning shutout performance to earn his second win of the 2009 season.

Santana had to pitch most of the game without any run support whatsoever but still found a way to shut down the difficult lineup of Corey Hart, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and J.J. Hardy. None of these players could touch Santana throughout the afternoon; he struck out seven batters and surrendered only five hits.

The Mets just couldn't figure out Yovani Gallardo, who was surprisingly brilliant. Gallardo went six innings of shutout ball, surrendering only five hits and striking out seven as well. It appeared that the game was turning into a replay of last Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Florida Marlins, where Santana fanned 13 Fish yet still lost because the Mets couldn't help him past a Dan Murphy error.

When Santana left after seven, it appeared that he was going to leave another brilliant effort for a no decision, but that is when the Mets finally cracked through the ice offensively.

After Ramon Castro drew a walk from Carlos Villanueva, Alex Cora laid down a bunt, but Villanueva's throw to Fielder at first was wide, allowing Cora to move at first and pinch runner Omir Santos to move to third base. Jose Reyes came up and slapped the ball right into Villanueva's glove, who was so surprised by the hit that he dropped the ball and allowed it to trickle behind him; good enough to bring home Santos with the only run of the game.

As Jerry Manuel would like to have it, on a day with Santana on the mound, J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez made easy work of the Brew Crew in the eighth and ninth innings as the Mets captured their second straight to improve to 6-5 on the season. BOX SCORE.