If it were up to Johan Santana, he'd be taking the ball on Wednesday afternoon against the Nationals.

"I would continue pitching," said the Mets lefty, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right ankle prior to Saturday's 8-5 loss to the Dodgers. "But again, like I said from the beginning, it's not just up to me. All along, since the season started, we're in this together. ... I'm just gonna recover and go back to competing.

"It's tough. I didn't want to go on the DL, I wanted to keep pitching and competing. But the same time, they have a decision, and you agree to it."

Santana reiterated that his surgically repaired shoulder is sound.

"My shoulder's fine," he said. "I don't have any problems. We'll see in the next couple days how it feels and we'll see what the next steps are."

Santana said his delivery looked different to the team's staff, but he elected to tune it out during games.

"A couple of times, I felt it, but I didn't think about it," he said of his ankle. "I'm just trying to do my job and compete."

Santana continues to dismiss the notion that his career-high 134-pitch no-hitter on June 1 is a factor in him being injured.

"The no hitter's past, man. You guys are going back to the same thing all the time," Santana said. "But it's past and it has nothing to do with that."

Terry Collins noticed that Santana was pitching "all arm" because of the injury.

"My shoulder's fine," Santana said. "It's just that when you start compensating, doing other things, you get other results, especially with command."