Santana – No-Hitter – Creates Mets History.

On a night full of clouds at Citi Field, Mets pitcher Johan Santana, cut through the St. Louis Cardinals’ line-up like butter, walking five but allowed no hits in an 8-0 victory Friday night that ended a half-century of Mets no-hit tries that stretched back 8,019 games. Santana threw 134 pitches, 26 more than the 108 he threw on May 8, his previous season high. After throwing Yadier Molina a fly ball, Mike Baxter helped him continue his streak by diving and catching the ball and ended up exiting the ballgame with a shoulder injury after plowing into the back wall. Even a Carlos Beltran ball in the sixth, appearing to hit the chalk down the left field, but in the end, it was ruled a foul ball.

Santana sat out the 2011 season recovering from shoulder surgery, and tonight was a ray of sunshine after a mostly disappointing stint since the Mets traded for him and signed him to a six-year, $137.5 million deal before the 2008 sseason. “Amazing,” Santana said afterward. “Coming into this season I was just hoping to come back and stay healthy and help this team, and now I am in this situation in the greatest city for baseball.”