Now that's what a ninth inning ought to look like: Five pitches, no fuss, put it in the books [1].
Now this is the kind of pitching line you dream of: 9 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB. 113 pitches, 85 of them for strikes.
Johan Santana is 11-7 in mid-August, but just look at this game log [2].
In the 15 games in which Santana didn't get a win, he's given up this many earned runs: 1, 4, 2, 1, 3, 1, 0, 4, 1, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 2. In 10 of those games he clearly did everything one could have asked of him — with better offensive support and bullpen work behind him, he could be knocking on the door of 20 wins.
Santana's had exactly two starts that would qualify as lousy all year: He gave up 4 ER in six innings against the Angels back in June and 5 earned against the Reds last month. When your bad starts can be referred to by the month in which they occurred, with no possibility of confusion, I'd say you're doing OK.
Or consider this: Santana went winless from June 6 to July 4. During that stretch, he lowered his ERA from an already-solid 3.20 to 2.96.
There was an odd feeling of dissatisfaction with Santana early on, as if we expected him to not only pitch superb baseball but also to discover cold fusion and clean up the Middle East. (If I can be a horrible fan for a moment, I do still wonder why he's been more Al Leiter than Mike Hampton with a bat in his hands.) The man's highest ERA following any game this season has been 3.41. Big second-half pitcher? He's been a big pitcher in whatever half you'd like to choose.
No prospects-for-a-veteran trade can be fairly assessed just one season in, but Carlos Gomez is hitting .250 and has brought little beyond speed to the Twins. Kevin Mulvey has been OK for Rochester, but Philip Humber has an ERA over 5 and Deolis Guerra is scuffling with a similar ERA for Fort Myers. Santana, meanwhile, has had to learn a new league, find a place in a new clubhouse, deal with a ferocious media, forge a relationship with two managers and two pitching coaches, and not yield to the temptation of strangling a parade of incompetent relievers.
All things considered, I'd say he's done just fine.