"The day after Johan Santana made his first rehabilitation start, manager Terry Collins received reports that encouraged him. Santana's fastball velocity hovered between 88 and 90 in his three scoreless innings for Class-A St. Lucie. He threw strikes, too.

Yet his manager understood the long road ahead for Santana, who is in the last stage of recovery from surgery to repair the anterior capsule in his left shoulder.

"Well, he's got a long way to go," Collins said before tonight's game against the Washington Nationals. "That's the first outing. He's got a long road ahead. When he starts to get six and seven innings and up to 85-, 90-pitch range, then I'll start to really think about it.""