Santana takes another step, and Collins expresses faith for opener

Mets manager Terry Collins expresses faith ace Johan Santana will be ready Opening Day after another good start by Santana but Santana stopped short of making any declarations.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Mets returning starter Johan Santana took his next step; he retired a few hitters, dodged a few raindrops, and generally looked impressive enough for manager Terry Collins to say there's no doubt, at least in Collins' mind, that Santana will be ready to pitch the season opener.

"Not for me,'' Collins said, enthusiastically (like he says everything). "I truly believe we're going to do this right, and Johan Santana will be on the team on Opening Day.''

Collins added the caveat that he isn't so familiar with Santana and that Santana himself really would be the better person to ask how he's doing and how he's feeling. And Santana, who's lived through the ups and downs of 17 months of rehab since shoulder surgery, was quite a bit more cautious than Collins.

"We'll see,'' Santana answered to a question about opening day. "I'm going one start at a time. If I am ready for it I'll be out there. But as of right now, it's one day at a time, one start at a time, and then we'll go from there.''

Before camp began, one competing executive said about Santana, in effect: What's the rush? "What's so important about opening day?'' that exec said.

The answer to that is this: Santana is the key man in Mets camp, he feels good and is throwing well. He is the clear ace on a staff that desperately needs one. And it has been 17 months.

Santana certainly didn't hurt his chances with a second start that wasn't a bad one. He left amid raindrops after 2 2/3 innings, undermined a bit by a couple miscues, one by Adam Loewen in center field and one by Ronny Cedeno at third base, who lengthened a rainy third inning for Santana. He allowed two hits (the liner to Loewen was ruled a hit, though he had an error later), walked one and struck out two while allowing no runs. His fastball ranged from 86 to 90 mph.

"I felt really good,'' Santana said, later mending that slightly to "pretty good.''

He didn't necessarily command the fastball like he'd like, but he threw more changeups and sliders. His spirits remained quite high, as he joked with folks in the clubhouse. Most importantly, he felt better about those pitches.

All of that added up to Collins speaking confidently about opening day, even if Santana isn't ready for any declarations. "It's still premature,'' he said.