Johan Santana
Johan Santana
Johan Alexander Santana Araqueis a Venezuelan professional baseball starting pitcher who is a free agent. Santana pitched in Major League Baseballfor the Minnesota Twins from 2000 to 2007 and for the New York Mets from 2008 to 2012, sidelined by injury challenges since the 2012 season. A two-time Cy Young Award winner with the Twins, Santana is a four-time All-Star and earned a pitching triple crown in 2006. On June 1, 2012, Santana threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis...
NationalityVenezuelan
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth13 March 1979
CountryVenezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
It's the first time I've had the opportunity to represent my country. It is (an All-Star lineup) You'll see the best in the world on both teams. That's something that we're looking forward to, not just me but everybody. In order for you to be the best you have to beat the best. It's the same way for them. We've got a great team too. It's going to be a great challenge. It's going to be interesting and fun to watch.
This is going to be a great feeling. I started working out in January to get ready for this. We have an all-star lineup, and so does the Dominican Republic. To be the best, you have to beat the best.
What's going to happen in spring training, we don't know. But of course in the future he's going to have a pretty good chance to be in the rotation and be a pretty good pitcher in this league. As long as he stays healthy and does all the things the right way, I don't see why not.
We showed what Latin baseball was all about. We showed the passion of the game.
The season is not over yet. Those guys have to go out there and play the game like they were at the beginning of the season.
They are a hot team and I didn't get the job done,
Everything was working, ... I was trying to stay aggressive.
Even though they pulled me out, I still felt strong. Those guys are pretty good. They make you work and go deep into the count.
Even though they pulled me out, I still felt strong.
Even if we don't have a chance to win our division, we're still the champions from last year, ... They know they have to play hard to take it. We'll never give up. I, personally, will never give up. I'll do my best until the season is over.
Sometimes, people talk about performances and everything, ... I've been doing the same thing I've been doing. It hasn't worked out as we wanted as a team. For you to win a game, a lot of things have to go right. It's not just about one guy, one pitcher, one hitter. It's about the team and that's it. There's nothing you can do about it personally.
At this point in the season, compared to a couple of years ago, I feel much better.
There's nothing I can do about it, really. I think everybody knows what it takes to win games. Hopefully, they know what they have to do when they go out there. I know what I'm doing. I'm not going to judge anybody. Hopefully, we get together as a team and start playing the game the right way.
I wasn't surprised at all. That's the way we do it. In our countries, fans go beyond the game. It's about passion. It's about loving the game. When it comes down to that, in the Latin countries, we do a pretty good job.