Santana, in his 12th season, is coming off serious shoulder surgery, but this was history, for him and the franchise. For all of his accomplishments, including two Cy Young Awards with the Minnesota Twins, Santana had never thrown a no-hitter - not even in a video game, he said later. After the seventh, he told Collins he wanted a chance. "He came over to me when I was sitting in the dugout and he told me that I was his hero, and that was the end of it," Santana said. And I told him I was not coming out of the game. Santana made history happen, his final changeup buckling under the bat of David Freese to end the game as the announced crowd of 27,069 fans stood and roared. Only Tom Seaver had taken a no-hitter into the ninth inning for the Mets, losing his bids in 1969, 1972 and 1975. "Being part of this organization, they deserve one - they deserve more than one," catcher Josh Thole said. All the great pitchers that have come through here, including Johan, you would think somewhere along the line. But I'm sitting back there calling pitches, and you realize how hard this is. These guys that call perfect games, my goodness, how do you do it? One of the players the Mets traded for Santana, Philip Humber, threw a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox this April. The Los Angeles Angels" Jered Weaver tossed a no-hitter last month, and now Santana has done it. But he used his changeup and slider to devastating effect, and it is safe to say that after a year off recovering from the operation, Santana has reclaimed his status as an ace. If we go back to spring training, there were a lot of questions: can he be the same pitcher he used to be? Santana said. I don't know, and I still don't know. But one thing I can tell you: every time I go out there, I compete. I try to give my team a chance to win. Whether it's 88, 90, 95, I don't care. But Johnson called it foul, Beltran then grounded out, and the pursuit continued. With one out in the seventh, Molina blistered a line drive that sent left fielder Mike Baxter racing toward the left field wall. Baxter said he knew the ball would back him to the warning track, but he did not care. At the warning track, he reached for the drive, which rolled around in the webbing of his glove. He squeezed the ball to secure the out, just as his left shoulder crashed into the fence. Baxter, a Queens native, left the game with a shoulder bruise and an indelible highlight in the history of his hometown team. "I'm glad I had a chance to be a part of it," he said. All of the Mets were. To play for the team is to know the endless refrain about a franchise that dates back 50 years and has never thrown a no-hitter. He continued after his talk on the bench with Collins, who said Santana looked stronger in the ninth inning than he had in the seventh. After the final strikeout, and a couple of interviews, Santana retreated to the clubhouse to find his teammates waiting for him with a bottle of Champagne. "We did this together," he said. We did the little things the way you're supposed to. I thanked them because we, as a team, made history tonight.