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Going, Going, Juan Gonzalez

Tony La Russa might want to keep Juan Gonzalez around, and not just for the swing that resulted in the mildly meaningless home run off Johan Santana at Tradition Field on Friday.

Turns out that Msrs Gonzalez and Santana have a history, kind of like Chipper Jones/Pat Burrell against the Mets, all wrapped into one.

Juan Gonzalez is 6-for-7 in regular season games against Johan Santana with two home runs and two doubles.

The good news is that we don't have to worry about most of the guys who hit the snot out of Santana. There's no one more prolific than Gonzalez, so that's a positive. There's no fear factor with Gerald (3-for-5, 2 HR) Williams, and I don't believe we'll see Sammy Sosa (3-for-4, 3 BB, 1 HR).

But there's a new Molina to irk Mets fans (Bengie: 12-for-25, 2 HR). Hideki Matsui is the one lefthander who owns Santana (11-for-25, 1 HR), but we're used to his success against everyone wearing a Mets uni. If Johan is facing Frank Thomas (10-for-21, 5 HR, including postseason), I can live with it because it probably means the Mets are in the World Series.

And wouldn't you know it...Chipper Jones is 3-for-4 career against Santana. That figures. At least Pat Burrell hasn't done any damage, though that might be because they haven't faced off in a game of meaning, yet.

True Metzalezs know... Juan Gonzalez has 10 career walk-off hits, but only one came against someone who once pitched for the Mets- Julio Machado- against the Brewers on August 11, 1991.

Comments

Chris Goudoras said…
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Chris Goudoras said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
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