“Rick Peterson just can’t seem to quit the Mets.
The team’s former pitching coach caused a stir yesterday by passing along what he described as a “rumor” 
that Johan Santana’s surgically repaired left knee is bothering him again.
Peterson, now out of baseball after being fired by the Mets along with Willie Randolph last June, said knee pain could explain Santana’s string of bad outings and worrisome drop in velocity.
“I know it’s been reported that he’s had a blister on his middle finger, and that certainly can be a major, major detriment for a pitcher,” Peterson told ESPN 1050 yesterday morning.
“And then there’s been some rumors that you hear about his knee being a little bit bothersome right now.
“And when that starts to happen, when you’ve got a finger issue and you have that knee issue like he had before, you really start to get a little concerned about that.”
Santana admitted to the blister on his middle finger and a sore back in May when pressed about his noticeable velocity drop during Sunday afternoon’s 15-0 shellacking by the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
Santana was hammered for a career-high nine runs in just three-plus innings, and his radar readings were mostly in the high 80 mph range. That is in sharp contrast to Santana’s normal 92-94 mph fastball.
Santana, who had arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in the knee last October, made no mention of his knee bothering him Sunday.
“I’m good, I’m good,” a sometimes-testy Santana said after Sunday’s debacle. “I’ve been battling through some soreness here and there earlier. But right now, I’m fine.”
But Peterson, who was Santana’s pitching coach for barely half a season with the Mets before getting axed, said he heard the knee is a factor in the lefty’s 6.50 ERA over his past six starts. “
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