From JOEL SHERMAN

Watching Johan Santana on Monday night made me think of Bob Gibson’s 1968. Despite a magical 1.12 ERA, Gibson still lost nine games that season. In that Year of the Pitcher, Gibson’s teammates managed two or fewer runs in 18 of Gibson’s 34 starts. I wrote this column for today’s Post about the non-support the rest of the Mets are giving Santana. This guy has allowed just four earned runs all year and has a 0.78 ERA, yet is 4-2 and the Mets are just 4-3 in his seven starts.

My thought is that the Mets might regret not capitalizing fully on what could be an historic season by Santana. Of course, it should be remembered that in Gibson’s historic season, he still found a way to win 22 games and the Cardinals went on to win the NL title. So that is the good news for the Mets.

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