Santana fit and relaxed entering 2nd season in NY

The two-time Cy Young Award winner lived up to the hype during his first season with the Mets.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — Johan Santana is about to turn 30 and he had knee surgery 41‚Ñ2 months ago.

It’s hard to tell.

Smiling, joking and noticeably more relaxed than last year, the New York Mets ace showed up at spring training looking limber and fit — in better shape than pitchers six or seven years younger.

Then again, Santana is used to outdoing everyone.

But if he finds a way to top his own Big Apple debut, that would be quite an encore.

“For me, everything last year was a learning process. And this year, I feel more comfortable. I feel now that I’ve been here for a while, so it’s a great feeling,” Santana said last weekend.

After arriving with jubilant fanfare and a record contract last year, the two-time Cy Young Award winner lived up to the hype during his first season with the Mets. He went 16-7 with a major league-best 2.53 ERA and 206 strikeouts in an NL-high 234 1-3 innings, despite pitching through knee pain down the stretch.

It was exactly the kind of production the club was counting on when it traded four prospects to Minnesota for Santana and signed him to a $137.5 million, six-year deal — the richest ever for a pitcher at the time.

Even with Santana, the Mets collapsed in September and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

But he certainly delivered under enormous pressure and dizzying expectations for a team still chasing its first championship since 1986.

“I think New York is a place where it could put you up here, and it can take you down,” Santana said, gesturing with his hand.

“It’s all about you just being yourself. That’s what I did. I was myself. It’s just the way I am. ... And they let you know. In New York, they let you know. So for me it was a matter of time.”

Santana’s signature moment came on the penultimate day of the season, with New York’s depleted bullpen in tatters.

Working on three days’ rest after throwing a career-high 125 pitches in his previous start, the left-hander tossed a three-hitter with nine strikeouts to beat Florida 2-0 and help the Mets pull into a tie for the NL wild-card spot.

It was a dramatic performance worthy of “Bravo!” calls on Broadway, and Mets fans were smitten.

The following day, however, the team was eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to the Marlins in the final game at Shea Stadium.

Then came surprising news: Santana underwent arthroscopic surgery Oct. 1 on torn cartilage in his left knee.

Few people knew he had been pitching with pain in his push-off leg throughout September.

“I didn’t think about it,” said Santana, who turns 30 next month. “Just able to battle through it. It was a matter of being tough mentally and pitching. That’s all I was doing.”