Matt Harvey
Given all that has happened with Matt Harvey over the past few seasons, it is easy to attribute much more significance to Harvey’s start against the Brewers. That’s what happens when Harvey fails to show up for a game and with the team suspending him for three games.
Reportedly, Harvey apologized to his teammates, and by all accounts, they have accepted his apology. Harvey spoke with the media to offer his explanation. All that remains is for Harvey to truly address the fans. For fans, they don’t want words. They want Harvey to go out there and be the old Harvey. That starts with his start in Milwaukee. Anything less than pure dominance, and fans will have their avenue to criticize Harvey.
The Harvey fans expect is the one we expect was 22-13 with a 2.50 ERA, 0.976 WHIP, and a 9.3 K/9 between 2013 and 2015. He was the guy that had a great start in the NLCS and Game 5 of the World Series. The problem is that Harvey is not that pitcher. After his TOS surgery, he has yet to get back to being that pitcher. He’s been inconsistent with the velocity in his fastball as well as his pitch location. Teams have begun to really hit him this season with Harvey allowing at least one home run in five of his six starts this year.
Things have been worse lately. In his last two starts, he was shelled by the Braves. In each start, he allowed six earned runs walking three plus. He wasn’t fooling anyone either only racking up three strikeouts in 9.2 innings pitched and allowing a home run in each start.
Now, this could be the result of his personal issues that led to his suspension. It could be the Mets asking him to make two unexpected starts. One of those starts was against the Braves. Without a real roadmap for pitchers returning from TOS surgery, we are still unsure as to whether this is all part of the normal ebbs and flows for a pitcher. Possibly, Harvey will never regain his old form. At this point, we don’t know, and as a result, it’s unfair to ask him to be something he’s not. There should be no added significance to one start in Milwaukee just because he’s coming off a suspension.
At this point, all we should expect is Harvey to be better than he has been against the Braves. Like with any other pitcher, the expectation should be for Harvey to keep his team in the game. More than anything, Harvey just needs to show up. If he does that while pitching at least decently, that’s all we can ask at this point.
It started early for the Mets. Steven Matz was injured before Opening Day, and the Mets again wondering what is really wrong with him. Seth Lugo pitched in the World Baseball Classic, partially tore his UCL, and he is going to try to rehab it rather than having Tommy John surgery. Indirectly, this led to Rafael Montero pitching like, well, Montero. It also led to a less than inspiring performance by Adam Wilk.
Noah Syndergaard is gone for an extended period of time with a torn lat. Matt Harvey has been suspended three games for failing to show up at the ballpark. Yoenis Cespedes and Lucas Duda have not played in a few weeks, and there are just rumors that they are soon to return. Travis d’Arnaud is yet again on the disabled list himself, and as usual we are unaware when he can return. Once again, Asdrubal Cabrera has been hobbled in the early part of the season leading everyone to wonder when the Mets finally put him on the disabled list.
Jeurys Familia was suspended for the first few weeks of the season, and he was not sharp immediately upon his return. Addison Reed struggled in his adaption to closer and again in his transition to the eighth inning reliever. Fernando Salas just struggled, and Josh Smoker has probably struggled more than Reed and Salas combined.
Jose Reyes was hitting .095 midway through April. Curtis Granderson entered the month hitting just .128. Neil Walker is under the Mendoza Line against right-handed pitching, and he entered the month of May hitting just .195. Wilmer Flores cannot his right-handed pitching. Juan Lagares can’t hit any pitching.
The end result was the Mets losing six in a row and 10 of 11. Already, people were starting to wonder if this team was similar to the 1992 or the 2009 Mets teams. Despite all of this, the Mets are back at .500 and second place in the National League East. How did it happen?
Well, for starters young and under utilized players have stepped up. Michael Conforto went from the bench to one of the best hitters in baseball. For the second straight season, T.J. Rivera has taken complete advantage of an unexpected opportunity being given to him. Josh Edgin has become a dominant LOOGY in the bullpen. We have even seen Paul Sewald step up pitching terrifically after some initial hiccups.
Then there are the veterans who have had career best seasons so far. Jay Bruce is on base to put up career best numbers in every offensive category. Jerry Blevins has been used almost every game, and he is putting up better numbers than he did last year’s career best season for him. Rene Rivera is hitting over .300. Hansel Robles is 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in 16 appearances.
More than there, the Mets have exhibited some professional pride. Reyes is hitting .282/.341/.564 with three doubles, a triple, two homers, nine RBI and a stolen base over his last 10 games. Granderson has hit .250/.368/.625 with three doubles, a homer, and four RBI over his last five games. Walker has hit .276/.364/.414 with four doubles and four RBI in the month of May.
In addition, the bullpen has been much better of late. Familia has had five straight scoreless outings. Reed has allowed just two hits with no runs in the month of May. Terry Collins has been more judicious in his use of Salas, and Salas has not allowed any runs in his last five appearances. With Blevins, Edgin, and Robles continuing their outstanding seasons, this has become the dominant bullpen everyone envisioned it would be to start the year.
With the combination of the resurgent veterans and the outstanding young player, the Mets are winning again. In the month of May, the Mets lead the majors in runs scored. They are fifth in the National League in homers. However, unlike last year, the Mets do not need homers to score runs. The Mets .320 team batting average and .517 slugging with runners in scoring position is second best in the majors, and its .419 OBP with runners in scoring position is the best in baseball.
Despite all the noise around the Mets, this team is playing its best baseball of the season. Once their pitching gets relatively healthy, and their current pitchers pitch close to their true talent levels, this team will once again be one of the best teams in all of baseball. Until then, this current group of Mets will make sure the Washington Nationals will be within shouting distance allowing the Mets to compete for the division.
It doesn’t matter how poorly the Giants are playing this season. If Zack Wheeler is going to pitch like he did tonight, he is going to beat even the best offensive teams.
Through six innings, Wheeler allowed just two hits and one run. The only issue was the four walks, but with the stuff he had there was no way the Giants were capitalizing. His slider was sharp, and he was getting his fastball up to 98 MPH. The only damage against him was a Buster Posey fourth inning solo homer.
By the time Posey hit that homer, the game was effectively over. The resurgent Mets offense jumped all over Jeff Samardzija.
In the first, Eduardo Nunez misplayed a Neil Walker ball into a two RBI “triple.” The ball was likely going to land and score one run, but it was not a triple.
Jose Reyes singled home Walker, and Rene Rivera doubled him home. Just like that it was 4-0.
In the second, back-to-back doubles by Michael Conforto and T.J. Rivera made it 5-0. In the seventh, Conforto put the final nail in the coffin hitting a solo home run to left-center field.
Now, despite having a 6-1 lead in a May game against a terrible offense, Terry Collins managed the eighth inning like it was the eighth inning in the seventh game of the World Series.
After a scoreless seventh, Collins let Hansel Robles start the eighth. After Robles hit Justin Ruggiano, Collins brought in Jerry Blevins to pitch to the left-handed hitters Joe Panik and Brandon Belt. Collins went to Blevins despite him being used way too frequently early this season despite the score being 6-1, and despite left-handed hitters hitting just 1-19 off Robles.
After Blevins got the two lefties, Collins went to Addison Reed to face Hunter Pence because of a little known MLB rule that if Pence hits a home run in Citi Field in the eighth inning of a game played on May 9th with the Giants down by five runs, the home run counts for 10 runs.
This ladies and gentleman is why Collins has stuck around long enough to pass Bobby Valentine for the second most games managed in Mets history.
Naturally, given how close this 6-1 game was Collins went to Jeurys Familia to close it out in the ninth. Somehow, the official scorer did not give Familia a save for this one. In any event, thanks to Collins pulling out all the stops, the Mets are back to .500.
Game Notes: Josh Smoker was sent down before the game to make room for Matt Harvey whose suspension just ended. Rafael Montero remains on the roster.
Yet again, the Mets have had to turn to Rafael Montero to make a start because there weren’t better options for the Mets. There weren’t better options because Sandy Alderson believed the Mets had enough starting pitching to never need to sign a veteran signing pitcher. As we have seen, this was a miscalculation.
Lost in the excitement of the Mets having seven starting pitchers was the fact that pitchers break down. This pitching staff exemplifies this axiom. Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, and Steven Matz were coming off season ending surgeries. For his part, Matz is seemingly never healthy. Zack Wheeler hadn’t pitched in over two years due to his having Tommy John surgery and the ensuing complications therefrom. Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo were terrific in September of last year, but it was against some fairly weak competition. Also, it is likely both were going to be on some form of an innings limit. Finally, there was Noah Syndergaard, who seemed indestructible.
Now, we could have anticipated Matz doing down, but the other manner in which the Mets have turned to Montero and Adam Wilk has been a surprise. No one expected Lugo to suffer a torn UCL. Syndergaard tearing his lat never could have been reasonably anticipated, nor was the Mets needing to suspend Harvey. Still, given the relative injury histories, it was certainly plausible the Mets would be down three plus pitchers at any point of the season. It was also plausible because pitchers break.
Despite this, Alderson moved both Logan Verrett and Gabriel Ynoa to the Orioles in separate deals. Both moves were defensible because the Mets needed space on the 40 man roster to accommodate free agent signings. Still, those arms needed to be replaced by cheap veterans who could be stashed in Triple-A, or the Mets could have signed a swingman who could have served in long relief and be available to make a spot start.
Now, we know players like Doug Fister and Colby Lewis likely weren’t signing unless they got minor league deals. Still, there were pitchers like Jon Niese and Dillon Gee available. Mets fans may not love them, but they are certainly better than Montero. There was also Scott Feldman who has served in both relief and long man roles, and he signed with the Reds for just $2.3 million. There are several other names like Jake Peavy who at least has the veteran guile to gut through five innings. Instead, the Mets stuck with Sean Gilmartin, who they won’t even trust to make a start, and they signed Wilk who is not a viable major league pitcher.
And now, the once vaunted Mets starting pitching is a mess, and it is up to Alderson to fix it. This is the same Alderson who has been very cavalier in moving pitching the past few seasons to help fix the weaknesses in teams he has built. So far, his answer has been Milone who has a 6.43 ERA in six starts this season. That’s hardly an answer.
Likely, Alderson’s real answer is to hope for some health with presumably both Matz and Lugo will be ready by the end of the month. Maybe this time the health plan with work.
Woody Allen has been largely attributed with the quote, “80% of life is just showing up.” If the other 20% you are providing is a 5.14 ERA in six starts, you better make sure you are showing up. According to various reports, Matt Harvey isn’t even doing that. Whether it was Saturday, the workout right before the 2015 NLDS, or any of the supposedly unreported occasions this happened, there’s no excuse for not showing up.
Yes, Harvey has already answered the bell twice this season by making starts on short notice. Sure, he was the guy that has twice pitched through injury (UCL, TOS) to try to help the team. He’s always the guy that wants the ball, and more importantly, he wants the ball when the chips are down. He had great starts in the 2015 NLCS and World Series. He was the guy that initially gave the Mets hope when he burst on the scene in 2013.
None of those are an excuse. You have to be there. It doesn’t even matter if the Mets let him get away with it for far too long. Harvey is a 28 year old professional. He doesn’t need to be told to be there.
Harvey has been a great pitcher, and once he figures things out, he can be one once again. However, for him to get back to that point, we have to know he is fully invested. If he is not showing up to the ballpark, how do we know that’s the case. Even if he had a migraine, as debilitating as those can be, he has to find a way to let the team know in a timely fashion. He has a phone and an agent for that. Again, if you don’t show enough responsibility to advise the team about your inability to show up to the ballpark, how do we know he is being responsible enough to make sure he is ready for all of his starts? We don’t.
Now, it is possible the Mets blew one incident out of proportion, and Harvey did what he was supposed to do. If that is the case, it is emblematic of what has been increasingly been a toxic relationship between the Mets and Harvey. No one is free from blame in that. The shame of it is it never should have gotten to this point. Harvey should have been an ace for a decade. The Mets should have protected his arm. Harvey should have been more dedicated to the team.
Neither has happened, and now the Mets are a dysfunctional mess yet again.
There are a million rumors why, but the one thing we do know is Matt Harvey did not make the start today. He was suspended for three games and sent away from Citi Field. Accordingly, someone else would have to make his start.
That fell on Adam Wilk who was making his first major league start in five years. In 2012, he made five starts pitching to an 8.18 ERA. If you feared home he’d fare against Giancarlo Stanton you should:
https://twitter.com/statcast/status/861386889315483648
Stanton hit the longest HR in Citi Field history at 468 feet. Stanton hit two of the three homers the Marlins would hit off Wilk. Stanton had more homers than the Mets had hits.
While Wilk was giving up six runs (five earned) off eight hits over 3.2 innings, Jose Urena and the rest of the Marlins bullpen allowed just one hit to Rene Rivera. Urena pitched six innings of one hit ball in his first start of the year.
Overall, Harvey was not the only Met who wasn’t there today. Harvey and the entire Mets offense were nowhere to be seen. Overall, the only Met today who showed up was Paul Sewald.
With Wilk not getting out of the fourth, and the Mets not getting much length from their starters, someone had to step up. Sewald did that in a big way. He pitched 3.1 innings allowing just one run on four hits while walking none and striking out six. It was an outstanding performance overshadowed by some pretty lousy ones.
For the second straight week, the Mets got pounded on a Sunday leaving a sour taste in your mouth after what had been an impressive series win.
Game Notes: Putting Harvey on the restricted list created the space in the 40 man roster to call up Wilk. The Mets claimed Tommy Milone off waivers. He was 1-0 with a 6.43 ERA and a 1.476 WHIP in six starts.
In honor of it being May the Fourth, i.e. Star Wars Day, here is a list of Mets players re-imagined as Star Wars characters:
Rey – Michael Conforto
Both were abandoned in the desert despite having great skills. Now, their opportunity has unexpectedly arrived, they are ready to be great like everyone once expected them to be.
Jyn Erso – David Wright
They have both sacrificed everything to be a part of this and to lead everyone to victory. It’s heartbreaking what happened to them. It’s incumbent on everyone to succeed and be victorious to honor their legacy.
Han Solo – Curtis Granderson
They were once great, but now they are older and are barely holding on at this point. As we know, it ends badly for both of them.
Luke Skywalker – Zack Wheeler
We thought both had disappeared and were never to be heard from again. Despite all odds, they have been re-discovered, but they may be here for the end of something (Jedi, Five Aces) than contributing to it.
Snoke – Ray Ramirez
They are both trying to oversee the destruction of everything, and we don’t know why they want to do it.
Jar Jar Binks – Rafael Montero
The question isn’t just why they are still here, the question is why did they exist in the first place.
K-2SO – Matt Harvey
While it may have been the opposite years ago, they are now the ones taking the bullets for everyone. It’s only a matter of time before they break down.
C3PO – Steven Matz
Both are constantly broken down, and we still do not know what is going on with their arms.
Jabba the Hut – Bartolo Colon
Both are massive, and both are now the enemy.
Saw Gerrera – Noah Syndergaard
Literally, no one thought what they were doing or how they were going about things was a good idea. Yet, they did them anyway, and now they are gone leaving others to scramble to do the job we once they were best suited.
Poe Dameron – Seth Lugo
Both played extremely important roles in the beginning of the saga (Poe – new trilogy, Lugo – aces getting injured). We are now just awaiting Lugo to return when he is needed again just like Poe did.
Finn – Jay Bruce
They were both told to do things a certain way, and it just wasn’t working for them. Now, the are in much better situtations, with people who realize who they really are, and they are thriving.
Galen Erso – Sandy Alderson
They were the ones with the grand plan, and they put all the pieces in place. However, they are now watching as things are falling apart all around them. Both need a miracle. Galen got his. We’ll see about Sandy.
Wickett – Wilmer Flores
Both are considered cute and cuddly, but they are warriors that will tear you to shreds . . . especially if you are a left-handed pitcher.
Death Star – Fernando Salas
Both were thought to be completely indestructible, and yet every time we see them they are getting blown up by the opposition.
General Leia Organa – Jose Reyes
They’re both back looking to recapture past glory. Sadly, we don’t think things are going to work out for them like we once thought it would.
Yoda – Yoenis Cespedes
Believe it or not, Cespedes is smaller than everyone, and yet, like Yoda he is the most powerful. Also, with his constant leg issues, he hobbles around like Yoda does.
Maz Kanata – Dan Warthen
Wedge Antilles – Lucas Duda
Time and again, their contributions are overlooked. Wedge took part in blowing up both Death Stars. Duda was the first base man for the pennant winner and one the Mets cannot adequately replace when he’s not on the field. Despite all of that, no one seems to want to give them credit for their contributions.
Obi-Wan Kenobi – Jacob deGrom
Princess Leia said it best when she said, “Help me Jacob deGrom, you’re my only hope.”
May the Force Be with You and Lets Go Mets!
It’s time again to wonder what’s wrong with Matt Harvey. Again, he struggled against a poor Braves offense. This time, he couldn’t hold a lead. He’s not striking guys out.
Tonight, his line was 5.1 innings, eight hits, six runs, six earned, three walks, and two strikeouts. His start was more frustrating than those numbers indicate.
After being staked to a 2-0 lead on a Jay Bruce first inning homer off R.A. Dickey, Harvey gave the lead right back by surrendering a two run homer to Freddie Freeman. The Mets then fell behind 3-2 when Harvey allowed an RBI double to Ender Inciarte.
It’s odd that this was considered an earned run. The rally was started when Jose Reyes threw a ball away allowing Kurt Suzuki to reach. Despite Reyes’ arm and Suzuki’s speed, it was ruled a hit.
The Mets tied the game at three in the third with an Asdrubal Cabrera leadoff homer. From there on out, it was all Braves.
Things began to unravel in the fourth with some poor pitching, luck, and umpiring. Adonis Garcia hit a lead off single, and then he moved to second on a Suzuki hit by pitch. On the hit by pitch, Suzuki actually took a full swing which should’ve negated the hit by pitch, but he was awarded first anyway. It should be no shock this was the decision as the first base umpire Larry Vanover was not good tonight. For example, he initially called Juan Lagares out on this play:
https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/859581152096534530
And then there was this one:
https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/859604994705588224
In any event, Suzuki was awarded first. Harvey then walked Dansby Swanson to load the bases despite Swanson entering the game hitting .151 and being up 1-2 in the count. Garcia then scored a run on a large hop off Dickey’s bat. Inciarte, a true Mets killer, made it 6-3 with a two RBI single.
The Mets had things cooking in the fifth and looked to be poised to tie the score again. However, Neil Walker grounded into a double play turning first and second no out to a runner on third with two outs. Then, Nick Markakis absolutely robbed Travis d’Arnaud. It was d’Arnaud’s last at-bat of the game as he’d be lifted in the sixth for Kevin Plawecki because his wrist injury flared up again.
Harvey pitched into the sixth, but he was removed with one out after throwing 99 pitches. He likely would’ve been hit with another run, but Lagares nailed a runner at the plate.
.@juanlagares2 shows off the cannon as he guns down the runner at the plate! pic.twitter.com/MQI16imync
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 3, 2017
The bullpen still fell apart, and like they’ve been in the past, Josh Smoker and Fernando Salas were the culprits. In the seventh, the two combined to allow three runs on four hits and a walk.
Like that, the Mets had a horrible 9-3 loss dropping them back to last place which is a place no one thought they’d be at this point in the season.
There were some positives. Michael Conforto (2-4, R, BB) and Bruce (2-5, 2 R, HR, GS, 6 RBI) stayed hot at the plate. Cabrera hit a homer. Josh Edgin and Paul Sewald were good out of the pen. Despite his struggles, Harvey is regaining his velocity hitting 98 on the gun.
There was also the ninth inning rally. Matt Wisler loaded the bases and Bruce hit an opposite field grand slam to make it 9-7. Jim Johnson then came on and retired Walker to get the save.
Still, this was a bad game for the Mets. Harvey struggled with his command. The bullpen struggled more than he did. The lineup past Bruce is still not hitting. They are also not winning games they should win.
Game Notes: Curtis Granderson asked for the night off as he feels his swing is off. He made a pinch hitting appearance going 0-1.
Look, if we are being honest, we just saw a really ugly side of Noah Syndergaard this past week, and it all surrounded how he is handling his current physical issues. As we have seen in the past, this isn’t the first time it has happened with Syndergaard.
Last year, there was a lot of drama surrounding Syndergaard’s elbow, and that drama was mostly created by Syndergaard himself. After the Mets had confirmed a report that Syndergaard did indeed have bone spurs in his elbow, he denied their existence saying, “I do not, no. My arm feels great. No, there is nothing structurally wrong with (the elbow), wear and tear will do it to you. My arm feels really good. I just have to get ready to go in five days.” (Kristie Ackert, New York Daily News). His denial of a team confirmed report created an unnecessary news cycle that ended in Syndergaard finally admitting two days later there was a bone spur.
The lesson here is there is no point in lying to the media, especially when they already know the truth. There’s also the lesson that you’re not going to win with the media, especially in a town like New York. Despite that, Syndergaard is repeating past mistakes.
After the Mets shielded him and started Robert Gsellman on Wednesday chalking it up to a “miscommunication,” the Mets and Syndergaard finally had to come clean on Thursday when Matt Harvey had to make an emergency start in his place. It was finally time to come clean. The Mets admitted Syndergaard had an issue with his bicep which precluded him from making the start. When it was time for Syndergaard to address the media, Syndergaard was completely unprofessional. According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, instead of answering reporters questions, Syndergaard chose to rip into Jay Horowitz for allowing the media to do its job. Syndergaard wasn’t just disprespectful to Horowitz, he was also disrespectful to a media doing it’s job. As Jerry Beach tweeted, Syndergaard called the media Horowitz’s minions.
As if this was not bad enough, Syndergaard did something really dumb after that. He refused to get an MRI. The Mets made the dumber decision to let him pitch despite his not getting that MRI. Syndergaard took the mound without anyone knowing the full breadth of his injury. He would only last 1.1 innings before needing to come out the game with an injury. As of this moment, it is reported to be a lat injury, and no one knows if it is related to the aforementioned bicep issue.
With Syndergaard leaving the game with the injury, he left behind an exasperated Sandy Alderson, angry Terry Collins, and a dejected fan base. Also, he’s getting that MRI he initially refused to get making this whole exercise completely pointless.
Maybe Syndergaard needs to believe he is indestructible in order to take that mound and pitch as great as he does. Maybe his emotions get in the way, and he responds in ways he later regrets. No one really knows because no one has the stuff he has, and those that have had something close have not been able to harness it the way Syndergaard has. He’s special on the mound, and there’s no doubt his mental makeup is a large part of that.
Still, Syndergaard needs to be a professional out there. While the New York media can certainly be unbearing, and at times cruel, a player has to learn to deal with them. Moreover, he has to learn to treat the people he works with with respect. That involves treating Horowitz like something more than a punching bag. It involves him doing the aspects of his job he doesn’t want to do like talking to the media when there’s a problem. It involves him not leaving his teammates to pick up the bag for him in the clubhouse or in the locker room.
These are the same criticisms everyone had of Harvey last year when he was going through his struggles, and they were all fair. However, it should be noted Harvey was not on record insulting anyone. He knew enough not to do that.
This isn’t to say Syndergaard is a bad guy, or that he needs to change that thing about him that makes him great. We all love his swagger. The 60’6″ talk. The pseudo-war with Mr. Met. Rather, Syndergaard just needs to learn when to answer a question and listen to medical advice. If anything, it will make his time in New York easier, and it might lengthen his career.