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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The New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets 9-3 Sunday after a huge seventh inning to take the first leg of the Subway Series and tie the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East.

The six games between the Mets and Yankees are always some of the most looked-forward to games of the entire season by fans in New York. No matter how the teams seemed to have been playing before, the stakes rise with pride and bragging rights on the line.

Since 2000 when the two teams met in the World Series, the games have only gotten more intense. Countless unforgettable moments make this series so much more than just a few games in the standings.

Fans will always remember the feud between former Mets’ catcher Mike Piazza and Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens which resulted in a hard fastball to Piazza’s head.

The Mets’ faithful will of course never be able to live down Luis Castillo’s error on a routine fly ball off the bat of Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth inning to lose the series in June of 2009.

It seems as though when these two teams get together, there are bound to be fireworks. Unfortunately, all we had heard about these teams early-on in the 2011 season had to do with abundant struggles and big problems that needed to be addressed to turn their seasons around.

This series showed signs that such rash judgments may have been a bit premature.

The Yankee captain Derek Jeter came up big amidst his struggles, driving a two-rbi single up the middle to tie the game in the bottom of the 7^th, sparking a monstrous eight run inning for the Bronx Bombers en route to victory.

The Yanks welcomed their hot inning, since they are so often criticized for only being able to score via Home Runs (most of which from the bat of the red-hot Curtis Granderson), and their lack of ability to play “small-ball” and manufacture runs. These criticisms are quite unfair.

As any baseball fan knows, teams always seem to hit better in the summer months when the whether gets better and the new players on the team (which the Yankees have plenty of) get a chance to become accustomed to their new surroundings.

Yankee fans need not worry, their team will be fine. Judgments of a team by their mediocre record in May must come with a grain of salt. Not to mention they are perched atop one of the toughest divisions in Major League Baseball, and have a better record than the Boston Red Sox who were deemed the favorites in the entire American League after all of their off-season acquisitions.

Injuries have really bitten both teams early on in the 2011 season. Yankee manager Joe Girardi is patiently awaiting returns from pitchers Phil Hughes and huge free agent pick-up, Rafael Soriano, who should bolster a pitching staff that when healthy, can be scary for opposing lineups.

In Queens, first year manager Terry Collins has had to deal with star players David Wright, Jason Bay, and Angel Pagan see stints on the DL, not to mention waiting for left-handed ace Johan Santana to return from off-season shoulder surgery.

All things considered, Collins has done a fine job so far in his first go-around in New York. Jose Reyes is having a career year, Carlos Beltran seems to be healthy again for the first time in nearly two-seasons, and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey seems to have become a fan favorite, holding down a seriously depleted pitching staff.

Coming into the 2011 season the Mets did not seem to have very high expectations, and yet they find themselves hovering right around .500, with a renewed attitude that could carry them into a fight for a wild-card spot in the National League should things go their way.

If nothing else, this series proved that the Mets could at least hang with one of the better teams in the league, even on the road.

As for the Yankees, winning this series may be a small victory in terms of the standings, but it was a bigger sign for fans, proving that this teams struggles are not permanent. The team must adjust to now being one of the older teams in the league, and with that, must come the knowledge that losing streaks happen. They have proven winners, veterans, and a solid mix of young talent that should allow them to make yet another run at a World Series title this season.

All in all, good things seem to be on the horizon for both New York ball-clubs. As summer begins, look for the bats to heat up, and both teams to compete night in and night out. There’s no quit in New York.

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