INJURIES AND SURPRISES

There was some bad news to come out of the Jets' 38-0 blasting of the Oakland Raiders - Leon Washington was lost for the season with a broken leg.

Apparently this was one of those gruesome football injuries. You can go elsewhere to read the bloody descriptions - I'm a bit squeamish. But it's not your run-of-the-mill broken leg. There are whispers that this could be a career-threatening injury.

The injury comes a week after a season-ending knee injury to Kris Jenkins, who has been a monster up front on defense for the Jets. That's two pretty significant injuries in two weeks suffered by the Jets...one on offense, one on defense.

Leon Washington wasn't lighting the league on fire this year - he has been passed, performance-wise, by Thomas Jones the past few weeks - but he is always exciting, and on many possessions, his kick returns are the entire offense. And if the injury is very serious, this will hurt the Jets beyond this year.

But this does give them an opportunity to give Shonn Green some playing time. And at the very least, that could give them a trading chip in the off-season, if they're looking for extra draft picks or help at some other position (assuming Washington comes back healthy). Because if the Jets have three effective backs (Jones, Washington, and Green), one of those guys becomes expendable at some point. Maybe the Jets can get something out of them before they lose them to free agency.

What can't the Saints do? They had no business hanging around in that game against the Dolphins on Sunday, let alone coming back and winning by two touchdowns (and covering the spread....). They proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt in that game that they are the best team in the league.

But they had better not lose Drew Brees to injury - were you as surprised as I was to learn after the missed extra point that their backup quarterback (and place kick holder) is Mark Brunell? Has he been effective at all since 1999?

A pleasant surprise came Sunday night watching the Giants-Cardinals game and learning that the 'starting' tight end for the Cardinals is former Jet Anthony Becht. Becht was one of my favorite Jets in the early 2000s. I never felt he reached his full potential. I don't think he ever will...especially not in the Cardinals offense - I don't think I see him and Kurt Warner connecting much in the near future.

But I'm glad he's hanging on somewhere after a stint with Tampa Bay - I thought he was out of the league.

**23 years ago today the Mets won the World Series. *wipe tear*

OH CHAD

The good news, I guess, is that Chad Pennington could be in line for a record third Comeback Player of the Year Award in 2010.

But there's got to be serious doubt that Pennington will be able to come back at all from another season-ending shoulder injury suffered Sunday in San Diego.

The reports are that Pennington has a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder, the same shoulder he had surgery on in 2004 and 2005. The same reports say he is out the rest of this season. I'm guessing the next step, though I haven't heard anything yet, is that the rest of his career is in jeopardy.

For those of you who are not familiar with my past, you need to know that I think the world of Chad Pennington. So much so that last year he had me rooting for the Dolphins (I HATE the Dolphins) over the Jets so that he could make the playoffs again. I know he couldn't throw the deep ball, and I know he didn't play the greatest games of his career in the playoffs, but he was a winner with the Jets. He just couldn't stay healthy.

And that is still a problem.

This latest injury seems a bit much. I'm no expert, but when your career (a career which is already characterized by a weak arm) rests on your throwing shoulder, and that shoulder has already suffered three pretty serious traumas, I would think that would end said career. And I would hate to see it happen...but I would also hate to see Chad Pennington unable to do simple tasks like lift a fork to his mouth because he ruined his shoulder playing football.

My dad and I talk about Pennington often. He likes to say that one day Pennington will win a Super Bowl. I like to agree, because he is such a smart ballplayer, a great leader, and someone you want to see have that kind of success. He has all the traits that would make him a great coach after his playing days are over.

I want to think maybe he'll still get that Super Bowl win. Unfortunately, after this latest injury, it might have to be on the sidelines as a coach rather than on the field as a player.

WELCOME BACK DAVID WRIGHT

In a season full of disappointments, there was one highlight - maybe the highlight of the 2009 season - for the Mets on Tuesday night, when David Wright came back off the DL and went 1-for-3 in Colorado.

The initial reports were that Wright might miss the rest of the season after he was hit in the head by a Matt Cain fastball in mid-August. No one knew what to expect, since the injury was a concussion, and the Mets were going to be extra cautious with their star in an already-lost season, following a poorly-handled concussion and recovery suffered by Ryan Church with the team last year.

But Wright and the Mets played it smart, and there he was Tuesday night, back in the three spot in the lineup, and he got a hit into left-center field.

The only thing better would have been if the ball carried a little deeper into the gap and he could have legged out a double.

You see, I love rooting for David Wright. I want him to be a member of the Mets forever, and I want him to make a historical mark on the game. Unfortunately, he's not a big bomber (never more evident than his 8 homers this year), and he's not a speed demon (though a smart and efficient base runner), and he's not a tremendous defensive third baseman (though he has steadily improved each year since he was brought up).

He's just a solid baseball player. If there is a place where he can leave his mark on the game when everything is said and done, though, it's in the doubles column. So I watch David Wright for the doubles, and this year was going great until he spent his time on the DL.

Probably because of the vacuous Citi Field, Wright had 31 doubles in 116 games before the DL stint. That put him on a career-high pace of 43 doubles for the season, one behind the team record of 44 set by Bernard Gilkey in 1996.

Wright has made a run at that record every year he has played regularly, with 42 doubles in 2005, 40 in '06, and 42 in '07 and '08. He has 214 for his career, which puts him in a tie for second on the franchise list, 11 behind team leader Ed Kranepool.

So Wright will undoubtedly become the team leader in doubles, maybe even before the end of this season (though 11 doubles in 30 games is a tall order). But I have my eyes on a bigger prize.

Tris Speaker is the all-time leader in doubles, with 792. If Wright puts up 40 doubles a season for however many more years he plays, especially since it looks like Citi Field will sap some of his homers and turn them into doubles, I think it will be fun to see him chase that mark of 792. Believe me, I will keep you posted on this chase for as long as I write in this space.

So welcome back, David Wright. Now start hitting some doubles.

A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE

With both Johan Santana and Oliver Perez set to undergo surgery today, we turn to the 200 Miles From the Citi futurives (opposite of archives, I made it up) to see just how pivotal a day in Mets history this was.

July 28, 2025 - Cooperstown, NY - Ollie and Johan. Johan and Ollie. Like Tinker, Evers, and Chance; Smoltz, Maddux, and Glavine; Schilling and Johnson; the names have been intertwined in baseball history.

They celebrated together on the mound after Perez relieved Santana in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, capping the Mets' fifth World Series championship in seven years. They kidded with each other as back-to-back co-Cy Young award winners in 2010 and 2011, beginning a stretch where each alternated as the NL winner of the award for eight straight years. And they sit together this weekend reflecting on a remarkable stretch which began with both of them on the disabled list and ends here, as they prepare to be inducted together into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"My success definitely traces back to the surgery," says Perez, referring to the controversial procedure conducted at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. "I came back from that a different pitcher."

"I don't really remember much about the past 16 years, to be honest," added Santana.

The players both had surgery on September 1, 2009, suffering from season-ending injuries in a terribly disappointing season for the Mets. For Perez, scar tissue was removed from the patella tendon of his left knee, and Santana had bone chips removed from his pitching elbow. Those surgeries were conducted as scheduled. What no one was told until the players' careers were over, though, was that doctors also took part of Santana's brain and implanted it into Perez's head.

"It was very strange," said Jeff Wilpon, whose father's sale of the team during the off-season was another move that has been widely credited with the team's turnaround. "It was like a Frankenstein setup."

"From that day forward, I was like a different pitcher," Perez recalls. "It was like, 'Oh, you're not supposed to walk guys. Especially with the bases loaded!'"

The effects of the surgery are reflected in the stats: both pitchers averaged 17 wins over the next 10 seasons. Santana reached 300 wins for his career in his final season, while Perez recorded 4,000 strikeouts for his career during that final campaign five years ago.

Neither pitcher reported any negative side effects following the surgery, though fans noticed that every time Santana struck out 10 or more batters from the 2010 season forward, he would wet his pants.

Asked about their time together with the Mets, Perez said of Santana, "I think I owe him everything."

Santana replied, "I don't remember anything."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 2009 METS EDITION

In an effort to become the retrospective with the least time lapsed, 200 Miles From the Citi now presents a 4-month-later look at the 2009 Mets' Opening Day lineup and where they are now...it's been a long time since that 2-1 win on April 6th:

SS Jose Reyes - On the DL since late May. 36 games played, probably out for the rest of the year.

LF Daniel Murphy -One of the few bright spots all season long, Murphy moved to first base after the Delgado injury and has been pretty solid there, spurring talk that he could be a future solution at the position.

3B David Wright - The mainstay in the lineup was placed on the DL for the first time in his career after being hit in the head by a fastball earlier this month. Talk now is he may be activated September 1st.

1B Carlos Delgado - On the DL since mid-May. Just 26 games played. Probably done for the season.

CF Carlos Beltran - Played 62 games, hasn't played since July when he was placed on the DL, insists every so often that he's coming back, but I'd call it doubtful.

RF Ryan Church - After his own Mets stint on the DL, was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Jeff Francoeur.

C Brian Schneider - Had a DL stint, he's active now, but he's terrible. .179 batting average.

2B Luis Castillo - He's been on an absolute tear lately, but he's the living representation of the Mets' 2009 season, dropping the final out against the Yankees and really beginning the tailspin that is their season.

P Johan Santana - The most recent casualty, placed on the DL earlier this week to have bone spurs in his elbow cleaned up. Should be healthy for next year.

For good measure, J. J. Putz, also on the disabled list, also appeared in that opening day game in Cincinnati. And we could easily re-create this exercise for the Mets starting rotation from the start of the season, or their bench players...but it's all just too sad.

(I promised this post a day earlier, but postponed it due to the Jets' announcement that Mark Sanchez would be the starting QB. Thanks for your patience, as I'm sure you were anxiously awaiting it.)

ANOTHER SEASON-ENDING INJURY

It's absolutely ridiculous that the Mets have lost another player to a season-ending injury. It's absolutely ridiculous that it's another one of their stars. It's ridiculous when you look at the Mets starting lineup from Opening Day and everything that's happened since (which we'll do tomorrow).

But the injuries have directed attention away from a simple fact: The 2009 Mets were going nowhere.

And the injuries probably saved Omar Minaya's job.

Johan Santana was about the only thing worth watching on the Mets for the season's final month. Now he's just the latest of what has become an almost laughable string of Mets injuries.

There's probably plenty of blame to be put on the Mets' medical staff, since there have been so many injuries and they have lasted so long, but I want to focus instead on the way this team was playing before all the injuries.

Yes, the Mets were in contention before everyone started heading to the DL. They were in first place for a bit, even when people started getting hurt the Mets were within a couple of games of first, right in the thick of things.

But I've never seen a more uninspired bunch. And that was going on all season long.

After the way the 2008 season ended, with the Mets being denied a post-season appearance in the final game in their home ballpark (not just of the season, but of all-time), coupled with the fact that it was the second year in a row that they had met that type of fate, I wanted the Mets to come out this year guns-a-blazing and never look back.

Instead, they played 9-12 ball in April, the low-light of which was the tremendously lackadaisacal effort they put forth in what was supposed to be an exciting opening of their new home ballpark. If ever there was a night that indicated that this team was not built to win a big game, that was it.

But the Mets never got a chance to show how poorly built they were, because they didn't have their best lineup in the game for much of the season. And yes, that was an excuse for how poorly they played, but it was also a mask for how poorly they would have played.

Some key parts will change in 2010 due to expiring contracts and personnel moves, but two pretty important pieces will be the exact same. Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel are supposedly safe. And I haven't seen anything from those two spots that shows me that 2010 will be any different from the way 2009 started out, no matter who's in the lineup.