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Here's how the Twitter world reacted to Johan Santana's no-hitter back in 2012

By Matt Monagan

Six years ago today, Johan Santana threw the first and only no-hitter in Mets franchise history. It took him 134 pitches, the most controversial foul ball Carlos Beltran had ever hit and a career-defining catch by Mike Baxter. 
But why describe the game to you when we can take you back, in real-time, to the moment it happened? Here is a brief time capsule of No-han's moment of brilliance, courtesy of Twitter dot com.
Former ESPN beat reporter Adam Rubin had been hoping for Santana to break the team's no-hitter drought for much of the season:

Like on a weekly basis:



At least one fan would see history in his very first game at Citi Field:

While one tweeter, Ben L., somehow predicted the no-no before the game even started. Figures it says he's a "Data Scientist" in his bio. Scientists are smart.


On to the game: Santana started off just OK -- striking out three through three innings, while walking two and throwing 50 pitches. Matt Adams was amped for the start against Johan pregame:


But Santana's changeup quickly made him wish he never even came to the park that day.

Santana was much of the same over the next couple of innings -- walking and striking out two more, but not really giving up any hard-hit outs. And then, while facing Carlos Beltran in the sixth, this happened:

With replay review still on the horizon, the hit was ruled foul. And FWIW, CC Sabathia, a man with 239 career wins, said he didn't care:

Although the St. Louis Post-Dispatch definitely did.
Santana got through the rest of the inning unscathed, retiring Beltran on a hard ground ball to David Wright:

The seventh inning brought with it the play of the game and perhaps the greatest moment of Mike Baxter's career. Yadier Molina hit a long fly ball to left field and the 27-year-old made an outstanding running catch while crashing hard into the wall:

Baxter would come out of the game and go on the disabled list for two months with a shoulder injury. People watching the moment were appreciative of his sacrifice:




Fans would even re-enact the play for years to come ... in the dead of winter:



Santana worked his way around a walk in the eighth and, of course, Twitter was getting dramatic:





With the weight of 51 years on his shoulders, Santana set down the Cards 1-2-3 -- finishing with a flurry against David Freese:

MLB.com's Anthony DiComo was gentlemanly and congratulatory:

The Karate Kid was thrilled:


As was super celebrity fan Jerry Seinfeld:
Then-NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

Funkmaster Flex!



 
And Jon Stewart -- who was actually at the game and recorded his pure ecstasy come the final out:

Teams in this article:
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