Background: The greatest Rule V pick in baseball history, Santana is without question the game’s most dominant starter. There’s no one even close now that teammate Francisco Liriano’s perplexing elbow won’t cooperate. Santana is becoming a modern day Sandy Koufax, putting up numbers for the past 3 1/2 seasons that are nothing short of numbing.
What’s up: The Twins are harder to kill than John Rambo. Every time people get ready to send general manager Terry Ryan condolences, Minnesota goes off. The one constant remains Santana. Chew on these numbers with your Cheerios. After his start Friday night, he was 9-0 in the second half, he hadn’t lost since July 9, the Twins are 26-6 in his 32 assignments, he leads the league in wins (18), ERA (2.77) and strikeouts (237). Said Royals first baseman Ryan Shealy, “Ordinarily as a right-hander you’d feel like you’d have a better chance against him. But his stuff is so overpowering. It was a learning experience for me. He punched me out three times and the hitting coach said, ‘Don’t worry about it. You aren’t the first to do that against him and you certainly won’t be the last.”‘
What’s next: With Liriano out and Brad Radke attempting to come back and pitch though he has a broken bone in his shoulder, the Twins have no margin for error as they chase the plunging Tigers. They must win when Santana takes the mound. The odds are working in their favor. Since Santana entered the rotation in the summer of 2003, he is 39-3 after the all-star break.
Renck’s take: To watch Santana is to witness genius. He actually elicits sympathy for hitters. Santana throws 93 mph to 94 mph, with a straight fastball and sinker. He throws the four-seamer under the hands. Then, just as a hitter thinks he has a chance, Santana blends in his slider and a changeup. “If he just threw fastballs he would be tough enough. But that changeup is so hard to recognize because it comes from the same arm slot,” Shealy marveled.
With David Ortiz’s campaign sabotaged by an irregular heart beat, Santana deserves a serious look for league MVP if the Twins are still playing in the first week of October.
