Johan Santana was impeccable on Sunday. In a game where offense was few and far between, Johan Santana took the rubber against the Texas Rangers to throw 8 innings, allow just 2 hits yield no walks and strike out 17 befuddled Ranger batters. The only run scored in the game was a second inning blast from Minnesota Twin Michael Cuddyer. The Twins took this game 1-0. Brad Wilkerson, Marlon Byrd and Gerald Laird all had the hat trick, three strikeouts, for the Rangers. Strangely enough, accomplished hitter Michael Young was the only Ranger with the golden sombrero, four strikeouts. To put Santana’s performance into perspective, 17 out of 24 outs came by the strikeout variety. Joe Nathan shut the door for Minnesota by notching his 27th save in the ninth innings.

“I’ve had a handful of opportunities to catch a no-hitter. I’ve had a couple of one-hitters and a few two-hitters,” said Minnesota catcher and Johan Santana’s batterymate, Mike Redmond. “When I walked off the field in the second inning I thought ‘This could be it. This guy’s got some amazing stuff today.’ ... He was unbelievable. He executed all day.”

Santana’s 17 strikeouts were the most in a Major League ballgame since Milwaukee Brewer’s pitcher Ben Sheets punched out 28 batters on May 6, 2004 against the Atlanta Braves. There was a special feel in the air after the game, which the pitcher Santana acknowledged after the game, when he talked about the possibility of the Twins winning a championship somewhere down the road.

“You see these guys from 1987 coming in and what they did 20 years ago was really good. We still have a long way to go, but hopefully we will make it special, and 20 years from now we’ll be in the same situation.”