Booing the Hessian

Saturday, Johan Santana made his New York debut and lost to Ben Sheets and the Brewers... and in so doing, probably heard the first boos of his professional life. It's not like he pitched terrible, but when you stake The Ace to a 2-0 lead in the first and lose 5-2, that's Not Good.

The outing and the reaction also prove, once again, that when a team buys talent, instead of growing it, the fans are much less interested in being patient for results (see Way, Yankee.)It's also, of course, not just a New York reaction, as the career of way too many Phillies free agents have proven.

“We’re not perfect,” Santana said. “I wish we could do everything the way everybody wants, but we’re human beings and we’re going to make mistakes sometimes. It’s just how you react to it or how you bounce back and do your job. Right now, a lot of people are expecting a lot of things from me. I’m trying to do my job and hopefully exceed those expectations.”

The Mets are now 1-2 in Santana's starts, and while he's still the best bet in MLB to turn it around and steamroll to the finish, he did give up 33 homers last year... and he makes an ungodly amount of money. (He's also, historically, much better after April.)

(Of course, Mets fan also boo Jose Reyes for failing in the stretch last year, Pedro Martinez for being old and infirm, and God for making the Yankees more consistently better. Boo!!!)