Star lefty Johan Santana finally made his return to a Major League mound on Tuesday afternoon for the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida, throwing two scoreless innings in Grapefruit League action against the reigning champs, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Sure, it wasn’t a game that bore any real significance, but after missing all of the 2011 season with a shoulder capsule injury that initially sidelined him at the end of the 2010 campaign, Santana’s return to the field was pure beauty to the organization and its dedicated fans. September 2, 2010 in Atlanta against the Braves – that was the last time that Santana had even faced a big league ball club.

“Finally I had an opportunity to go out there and finally get the first one out of the way,” said Santana. “… I was excited about today. Even as I was preparing myself prior to the game, I was anxious to go out there and do it. But at the same time, it was all about how I feel.

“I know it is a game situation and you have to do your job out there, but I was just focused on making sure I do the mechanics the right way and feeling good and not feeling anything in my arm. And that’s how I felt today. I felt good.”

Santana threw 29 pitches in his two innings of work. He appeared shaky at the outset, walking the leadoff hitter on just 5 pitches, but settled down and hit the strike zone on 16 of his final 24 pitches.

Not trying to be too cute coming back from a serious shoulder injury, 12 of Santana’s 13 first inning pitches were fastballs. His velocity was closely monitored and will continue to be throughout the season. He was consistently in the high 80’s and topped out at 90 on one early pitch.

Secondary pitches began to be incorporated in the second inning, one of which being his devastating changeup – the main putaway pitch that has turned him into a two time Cy Young Award winner and one of the game’s elite pitchers for the last several years. Santana had no strikeouts in the outing, but allowed no runs on just one hit and one walk.

“It was fun,” said Mets catcher Josh Thole, who was behind the plate. “I think it should be encouraging for the whole team. He went out there and it was kind of like he just left off where he was.”

Santana will once again be the ace of the staff. The four starters behind him will likely be R.A. Dickey, Jonathan Niese, Mike Pelfrey, and Dillon Gee.

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According mlb.com, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson claims that ace Johan Santana should be returning to the hill by the time the team reconvenes for Spring Training in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Santana is now three weeks into his usual offseason throwing regimen, which consists of flat surface long tossing on consecutive days.

“He’s in a normal progression for Spring Training,” said Alderson during a Thursday conference call. “We expect to see him in Spring Training, and he should be ready to go at that point.”

The two time Cy Young Award winner missed the entire 2011 season after a severe left shoulder injury, suffered in late 2010, which required anterior shoulder capsule surgery – a procedure previously necessary for pitchers such as Chien-Ming Wang and Mark Prior. The management was originally optimistic that he would be pitching at the Major League level by last season’s All Star break. This remains unfulfilled.

Mets fans have been hopeful for an end to this, though, aware that Alderson previously referred to Johan Santana returning for Grapefruit League action as “a question mark” as recently as a month ago. “I didn’t want to set off alarms the last time I talked about this, but we are talking about somebody who’s coming off a long rehab,” said Alderson. “I think ultimately the questions are going to be answered in Spring Training, not beforehand.”

Obviously the “questions” Alderson eluded to refer to Santana’s physical capabilities following shoulder surgery. Conclusions cannot be drawn regarding expectations until a radar gun determines if there is a dip in velocity. As noted over the last few years, shoulder operations have had this effect more often in comparison to Tommy John elbow surgery.

Santana’s absence was definitely felt throughout the 2010 campaign. Over three seasons with New York, he has gone an impressive 40-25, boasting a 2.85 ERA. Without him, the Mets entire starting staff went an abysmal 53-58 last season, combining for a much higher ERA of 4.17. Lacking a true ace, their best pitcher record-wise wound up being rookie Dillon Gee, who went 13-6 with a 4.32 ERA in 27 starts.

New York handed the ball to 9 starters during the course of a 77-85 season – Gee, Jonathan Niese, Chris Capuano, Mike Pelfrey, and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey making up the rotation most of the way. Of those 5, Dickey, Capuano, and Pelfrey were the only ones to make at least 30 starts each.

The other four players called upon were Chris Young, Miguel Batista, rookie Chris Schwinden, and D.J. Carrasco. Young, Batista, and Schwinden each made four starts, while Carrasco had just one.

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