We have our winners of the Johan Santana no-hitter DVDs!

Five Subway Squawkers readers have won copies of  "BASEBALL’S GREATEST GAMES: NEW YORK METS FIRST NO-HITTER," courtesy of A+E Home Entertainment/MLB Productions.

The DVD includes the television broadcast of Santana's June 1 no-hitter over the St. Louis Cardinals as well as a special audio feature allowing fans to watch the television broadcast and listen to the Mets radio network announcers in English or Spanish.

The DVD is available online at the Mets' online shop and in the Mets Team Store.

We asked those entering the contest to tell us at what point during the game they first started to think that Santana might actually pitch the Mets' first no-hitter.

Here are the winners and their responses:

Taryn and I were doing laundry that night so I had to listen to the first two innings on the radio.  We got back home in time for me to notice that both Santana and Adam Wainwright had not allowed a hit through two innings.  When both pitchers got through three innings with neither team collecting a hit, that was when I first started thinking about the no-hitter for Santana.  I said to myself, "Santana might have to throw a no-hitter to beat Wainwright tonight".

In the bottom of the fourth inning, David Wright broke up Wainwright's no-hitter and started a two-run rally.  Once the Mets had the lead (and some hits), my full focus turned to Johan's attempt to make history.  After the Cardinals went down in the fifth inning and still did not have a hit, Taryn decided she was going to go to the supermarket after the next inning.  I decided I was going to stay home.

When Carlos Beltran didn't break up the no-hitter on the ball that kicked up chalk down the left field line, I really started to feel that I was watching something special.  But Johan was already approaching 100 pitches and felt there was no chance Terry Collins would leave him in the game, especially considering his injury from the previous year.

As odd as it may seem, part of me wanted Johan to give up a hit because I didn't want the team's first no-hitter to be a combined effort.  It wouldn't feel right to see a reliever celebrating the final out instead of a deserving starter.  Notice how I assumed the Mets were going to throw the no-hitter there.  I was getting very confident about it at that point.

That confidence grew in the seventh, when Mike Baxter made the play that will make him a Mets legend forever, a la Ron Swoboda for his World Series catch and Endy Chavez for his NLCS catch.  After Johan had finished his seventh hitless inning, I called Taryn (who had left for the supermarket one inning earlier), telling her to rush back from the store because Johan was taking his no-hitter into the eighth.  She made it back within a few minutes.

In the eighth, I kept thinking that I had been in attendance at Shea Stadium the last two times a Mets pitcher took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, but both Tom Glavine and John Maine fell four outs short of making history.  When Santana got the first two outs of the inning, that was the one time I felt a lack of confidence.  It was slight, but it was there.  But then he induced a harmless infield pop-up that ended the inning.  He was now only three outs away.

Only five weeks before, I had written a fairly lengthy piece on the Mets' lack of no-hitters, discussing interesting coincidences and anecdotes surrounding the topic.  I then realized that piece might be rendered obsolete if Santana could get three more outs.  I didn't mind that at all.

Taryn was sitting on the floor and I was sitting on the couch.  Neither of us moved throughout the entire ninth inning.  When Matt Holliday hit a first-pitch soft liner to center, Taryn thought for sure that the no-hitter was over.  It wasn't.  Andres Torres raced in and caught the ball in shallow center.  Then Allen Craig hit a fly ball to left field.  Although Kirk Nieuwenhuis took an odd circuitous route to it, he made the catch and Santana was one out away from baseball immortality.

David Freese came up and Santana threw him three consecutive balls.  Although he had now thrown 131 pitches, I wasn't concerned with the pitch count.  I knew that even if walked Freese, he wasn't going to be taken out of the game.  It was his no-hitter.  No one was going to share it with him.

Then came a called strike.  Two strikes away.  That was followed by a slow topper down the third base line.  As soon as Freese hit it, I thought of Paul Hoover hitting a 30-foot swinging bunt that ended John Maine's no-hitter in 2007.  That ball stayed fair. This one went foul.  Santana was now one strike away from the moment all Mets fans had been waiting for from the first time they said "Let's go Mets".

Taryn was twiddling on her phone on the floor.  I was practically hyperventilating on the couch.  Then Santana looked in, got the sign from Josh Thole and fired away.  Swing and a miss!  He had done it!  The no-hitter was complete!  I immediately leaped off the couch and into Taryn's arms, jumping up and down in place a la Billy Wagner and Paul LoDuca after the Mets had clinched the NL East title in 2006.  The tears were flowing.  Most of them were mine.   (I'm not ashamed to admit it.)

As Gary Cohen said on the air, "it has happened".  And it did.  Johan Santana had finally gotten the monkey off the team's back.  The Mets finally had their first no-hitter.  No longer did we have to keep track of the number of games the team had played without a no-hitter.  (It was at 8,019 before Game No. 8,020 ended the no-hit drought.)  After two innings, I first started thinking about it.  By the time the Mets took the lead in the fourth inning, I really started thinking about it.  By the seventh inning, I knew Santana was going to get it.  Two innings later, he did.

It was a moment I'll never forget (as you can see by this detailed recap of it).  I'm sure it's a moment all Mets fans will never forget.

Thanks for holding this contest, allowing me to share one of my greatest memories as a Mets fan.  Let's go Mets!
Ed
New York, New York

Being in Nashville, I don't usually get to see the Mets play, so I live vicariously through what I can get from MLB At Bat & Twitter.

I was having a catch-up evening with an old acquaintance, and I checked my twitter feed between our dinner and trek for coffee.

Keith Olbermann was the one whose tweets caught my eye that night. I think he first mentioned it in the 5th. Then the 6th came, and once the Beltran thing happened, I dared to believe. We got the bounce that we usually didn't, the call that goes against us (see: R.A.'s 1 hitter that came after) went for us, and we had a chance.

We got our coffee and sat outside in a part of town called Hillsboro Village. Across from the coffee place is a sports bar. While eavesdropping on some Vandy students debating anarchy and government, a familiar hat logo caught my eye. One random TV in the sports bar across the street was showing the Mets game instead of the NBA. 

We hightailed it across the street, found the game set, stood around as inconspicuously as possible, and watched it finish. 30 years of waiting, and I actually got to see it. So sweet!
Jillian
Nashville

Honestly, I was at my grade school reunion and was not watching the game.  When the news came over my smartphone, the Met fans present had quite the celebration.
Kevin
New York, New York

I thought it was going to be a no-hitter after it ended.
David
Boulder, Colorado

When I first started thinking Johan might pitch a no-hitter?
When I read about it on the MLB website the next day...
Brian
Nottingham, UK

Win a DVD of Johan Santana pitching Mets' first no-hitter!

Want your own DVD of Johan Santana's incredible no-hitter? A+E Home Entertainment/MLB Productions is giving away five copies of "BASEBALL’S GREATEST GAMES: NEW YORK METS FIRST NO-HITTER" to Subway Squawkers readers. 

The DVD includes the television broadcast of Santana's June 1 no-hitter over the St. Louis Cardinals as well as a special audio feature allowing fans to watch the television broadcast and listen to the Mets radio network announcers in English or Spanish.

The DVD is available online at http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12609906&cp=1452371.2366583 and in the Mets Team Store.

If you'd like to win a copy of BASEBALL’S GREATEST GAMES: NEW YORK METS FIRST NO-HITTER, email us at subwaysquawkers@gmail.com and tell us at what point during the game you first started to think that Santana might actually pitch the Mets' first no-hitter.

Please include your name and mailing address in the email and put "NO-HAN" in the subject line. Five entries will be chosen at random.

You have until Monday, August 6 at 5 p.m. to enter the contest.  Good luck (and let's hope the Mets win another game by then!).

On Bryce Harper, A-Rod, R.A. Dickey, no-hitters, and clown questions

As a note in preparation for the upcoming Yankees-Nationals series, I have to say that I'm digging Bryce Harper as a player, and as an interview. He gave that idiot Canadian reporter's question about drinking a beer the answer it deserved: “That’s a clown question, bro.” I'm going to start using that phrase as an answer to everything. Hear that, Squawker Jon? That's a clown question, bro!

Here's the thing. Reporters ask those kinds of questions not to get a good story, but to drum up controversy. How was Harper, who is a non-drinking Mormon teenager, supposed to answer that? If he had said yes, there would have been a whole story about how Harper, age 19, thinks he's above it all. It was a total gotcha question. So Harper gave an obnoxious question an obnoxious answer. Good for him. Frankly, I wish A-Rod would do that sometimes, with some of the clown questions he gets.

Speaking of which, I heard some Yankee "fans" devalue A-Rod tying Lou Gehrig on the all-time grand slam because Alex took PEDs. Everytime I hear a Yankee fan complain about that, I ask them how they feel about Andy Pettitte taking PEDs, and if that devalued his career achievements. Every single time, the fan goes into contortions to explain that Pettitte only did it once (not true!) to recover from an injury,  blah blah blah.

If you are going to criticize A-Rod for PEDs, then you have to do the same with Andy Pettitte, even if Andy is part of the Core Four, has five rings, etc., etc. To do otherwise makes you a hypocrite.

In other news, I noticed that R.A. Dickey should have gotten a no-hitter last night, but an obvious error by David Wright was ruled to be an infield hit. That's the perfect rejoinder for those who complain that Johan Santana's no-hitter doesn't really count, due to the Carlos Beltran hit being called a foul ball. Because even though the Mets are appealing the infield hit ruling in the Dickey game, there is very little chance they will win that appeal. And Dickey will not get the no-hitter he earned last night.

Speaking of which, Squawker Jon sent me an email last night about Matt Cain's perfect game, and I was about to write him back that Cain pitched a perfect game, while the Mets still do not have a no-hitter, only to remember that they do now! So thanks to Santana, something I loved to mock Jon about is done. Oh well.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Yeah, baby, believe it! Johan Santana pitches a no-hitter for the Mets!

Finally! I am happy for Squawker Jon and his fellow Mets fans that their franchise finally has a no-hitter. And I'm especially glad it was Johan Santana, one of the game's great pitchers. I even got a little teary-eyed watching it, and I have no heart! 

However, this means that much like I helpfully reminded Red Sox friends about 1918 before the 2004 ALCS, I now have one less thing to mock Jon about. You see, every single time an MLB pitcher has taken a no-hitter into the eighth or ninth, I always am sure to tell Squawker Jon that the Mets never had a no-hitter. You know, in case he forgot! 

Like when Justin Verlander nearly had his third no-hitter a few weeks ago. I informed Jon about how those no-hitters were more than his franchise ever had. I also have helpfully teased him over the years about how many ex-Mets have hurled no-hitters, making sure to remind him about how Dwight Gooden and David Cone did it as Yankees!

But last night was a little different. I watched the last three innings of Johan Santana's no-hitter instead of the Yankee game, as soon as Jon called me in the sixth to tell me what was what. Jon feared that Terry Collins may pull Santana even if he were pitching a no-hitter, due to the high pitch count. I told him flat-out that there was no way that Santana was going to allow that to happen. After all, this wasn't some rookie on the mound. It was Johan Santana! I just couldn't see any way that Santana was going to willingly leave the game. There would have been blood on the mound!

All teasing and trash talk aside, I really wanted Santana and the Mets to finally get that no-hitter, even if it means less ammunition when it comes to mocking my Met fan blogging partner. Until last night, the most historic thing to happen at CitiField was when Mariano Rivera got his 500th save on Mets' turf, a game Jon and I were at, and an event I love to remind Jon about, especially when K-Rod walked Mariano!

Now the Mets have their own no-hitter, on their own field. Good for them. Now I will have to find something else to mock Squawker Jon about!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

I've waited my whole life for a Met no-hitter

When I was growing up, I was obsessive about not missing a Met game, not just because I was a big fan, but because I didn't want to miss the first no-hitter. I had been fortunate enough to attend Tom Seaver's "imperfect game" that was broken up by Jimmy Qualls, and while I was too young to fully appreciate what nearly happened, it helped make me look forward to when the Mets would produce a no-hitter.

In the mid-70s, when the Mets were good, but not great, a no-hitter was something to look forward to. And why not? The Mets of course had Seaver, who would take two other no-hitters into the ninth, but they also had strong pitchers such as Jon Matlack and Jerry Koosman. They played in a pitcher's park.

Instead, it turned into the Mets' version of 1918 or 1940, only unlike the Red Sox or Rangers, there was no "not since..." to mark - it had never happened. In recent years - the Mets haven't even come that close - no no-hitters entering the ninth since Seaver in 1975. It looked so hopeless that if you had asked me before the game what the Mets would do first - pitch a no-hitter or win a World Series, I would have gone with the latter, and it's not as if I expect a title anytime soon.

As for who might be most likely to pitch one on the current team, a few years ago, I might have said Oliver Perez, who did have flashes of brilliance at one time. But that goes to show just how cursed the Mets had been in this area.

I would not have guessed Johan Santana. I was just glad he was back pitching at all.

Whenever I hear a no-hitter is going on, I call Squawker Lisa, but never before the ninth. Tonight, however, I called her after the sixth. I just had a feeling. Maybe it was because Carlos Beltran's ball that hit the third-base line chalk was called foul. Santana seemed in control. His biggest hurdle seemed to be the pitch count.

When Mike Baxter crashed into the wall in the seventh, it looked like another omen. In the eighth and ninth, it seemed that no out was routine. Maybe they were bloops, but fielders had to run to catch them, and avoid running into overeager fill-in shortstop Omar Quintanilla.

By the ninth, I thought Johan was going to do it. But I'm glad he got David Freese out and did not have to face Yadier Molina one more time.

And I'm glad that Beltran's ball down the line was called foul, not just because I'm glad Santana got the no-hitter, but because I didn't want Beltran to be the one who broke it up. I thought Beltran was very underrated as a Met and I didn't want Met fans to have something else to criticize him for. I'm glad he got a good reception tonight.

Squawker Lisa likes to tease me about Dwight Gooden and David Cone going on to pitch no-hitters for the Yankees. I was irritated about Gooden at the time, though after Johan became the first pitcher to have a no-hitter after missing the previous season, I have more appreciation for what Gooden accomplished. I was happy for Cone. As with Johan, Cone had come back from serious injury. Lisa reminded me how Cone was pulled after seven no-hit innings in his first game back in 1996 after his aneurysm.

By the way,  Lisa, do you remember who started for the Expos against Cone when he pitched the perfect game? A young pitcher named Javier Vazquez.

As I rooted for Johan to complete the elusive no-hitter, I fully appreciated the grim look on Terry Collins' face. This franchise has not had much luck with injuries in recent years and they pushed their luck with Johan tonight.

But as the magnitude of what Johan did sinks in, I have no doubt that Collins made the right decision. I hope I still feel that way in a few days when we find out how Johan is recovering from his 134-pitch outing. Right now, though, I am still having a little trouble believing that, after 8,020 games, the Mets finally have a no-hitter!

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Just added my keywords for the blog entry. "Mets" and "Johan Santana" were of course already in the label list. This entry marks the first use of the keyword "no-hitter."

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On Saturday afternoon, I will be participating in a "Progressive Game Blog" run by the United Cardinal Bloggers. Mets and Cardinals blogs will take turns writing about the game and about their teams in general. I will be covering the first inning along with the Cardinals blog Pitchers Hit Eighth.