Johana Santana solid in spring debut

Johan Santana said he felt "pretty good" after his first spring training start, giving him and the Mets hope he can hurry his return from elbow soreness in time for the season opener.

“I was able to get everything going right away,” Santana said. “I threw all my pitches. That was a good sign.”

Originally set to make his debut on March 3, Santana, who had off-season knee surgery, was scratched from two starts because of elbow tightness. The team considered sending him to New York for a magnetic resonance imaging test, but a few days’ rest diminished the discomfort and Santana resumed an accelerated schedule that has him on track to pitch the April 6 opener in Cincinnati.

Santana has not complained about soreness since he rested, and team officials have been so confident in his progress that they did not attend his bullpen session Monday.

After Santana retired the side in the first inning on 10 pitches, Manager Jerry Manuel could not suppress a smile. Santana opened the second by grooving a first-pitch fastball that Dan Uggla slugged over the left-field wall, but that hardly bothered Santana.

“It’s all about feeling healthy and getting stronger,” Santana said. “And I felt pretty good.”

Sounds like everything is good. I doubted highly that Santana would be starting the Mets' opener earlier in the spring. Funny enough, perhaps thaks to the World Baseball Classic extending spring training, he might make it.