Thank you, John Harper.

"So while the Mets manager made a point of saying he was to blame for the four home runs Santana surrendered to the Yankees in the 9-1 loss, pinning it on the extra two days of rest he forced on the lefthander this week, in truth he had no choice.

As Collins said, 'We erred on the side of caution and it cost us a game tonight. Johan was rusty and that’s my fault.'

First of all, all of that may or may not be true. The Yankees had hit Santana hard in the two previous starts he had made at the new Yankee Stadium, so this wasn’t necessarily an anomaly.

And while their mysterious struggles with runners in scoring position and the bases loaded have kept them from taking off this season, the Yankees can ambush anybody with their power, especially in this ballpark.

...

So while Collins was only looking to protect his ace, there was no blame to be taken. If anything, he should have given more credit to the guys who did the thumping."

He pitched a bad game. It happens. I'd expect a higher frequency of bad games from Santana and Dickey. The pitcher is 100% responsible for every pitch he throws.