Matt Harvey
You can look at any aspect from this game and say the Mets have to be better. That’s always the case when you lose a game. That goes double when you lose to what may be a historically bad Braves team.
For starters, Matt Harvey regressed after three terrific starts. His location was off, and the Braves made him pay. Harvey’s final line was six innings, seven hits, four earned, two walks, and five strikeouts. Ultimately, it may not have mattered, but you have to scratch your head at Terry Collins starting Kevin Plawecki over Rene Rivera.
Now, the Mets could’ve picked up Harvey tonight as they were facing former Mets prospect John Gant and his odd windup tonight:
It looks difficult to hit, right? Well, it hadn’t been the case this year with Gant having entered the game with a 5.63 ERA and a 1.750 WHIP. Naturally, Gant turned it around tonight pitching 6.2 innings allowing only two hits, one earned, and two walks with five strikeouts.
Gant had the sinker working that makes him an intriguing prospect. It’s why the Braves did a good job getting him as one of the pieces in the Juan Uribe/Kelly Johnson trade. For what it’s worth Johnson was 0-2 with a walk against Gant.
That’s how the night went for pretty much all of the Mets except Curtis Granderson who was 2-4 while scoring the only run of the game for the Mets in the first. There were a few stop and starts over the night, but the Mets were not cashing in on their opportunities. Most notably, the Mets had bases-loaded in the seventh, and Collins turned to Wilmer Flores, who couldn’t grip a bat yesterday, to pinch hit for Alejandro De Aza, who was originally announced go pinch hit for Antonio Bastardo, as the Braves brought the lefty Hunter Cervenka. Flores struck out as it’s hard to play with one hand.
The offense and pitching wasn’t the Mets only failing. In the eighth, Yoenis Cespedes bobbled a ball in the outfield. The play allowed Chase d’Arnaud, Travis‘ brother, to score even though he had already stopped at third. It went down as an unearned run to Erik Goeddel.
As if all of this wasn’t enough, James Loney made a bush league play on the bases that led to a game ending inning ending double play. On a Plawecki grounder, Loney slide into second. His slide wasn’t enough to break out the double play, so he lunged his elbow towards Jace Peterson‘s crotch. Even though Plawecki would’ve been safe by a mile, it was correctly ruled a game ending double play.
With that, Gant had his first career win, and Harvey had his major league leading ninth loss. It was a bad loss that was hard to watch. Across the board, the Mets need to be better than this.
After going to the playoffs in Major League, every expected the Indians to repeat and possibly win the World Series. The same goes for this year’s Mets team. Last year, the Mets dealt with injuries, which hampered their ability to score enough runs to support a young pitching staff. The Major League II Indians had the same problems:
The parallels don’t just end with the repeated problems. They go much further.
The once cheap Indians spent money in the offseason to help improve the club. For the Indians, it was Parkman. For the Mets, it was bringing back Yoenis Cespedes.
Both Terry Collins and Lou Brown had to spend time in the hospital. It makes you question which British show Collins was watching in a Milwaukee hospital.
Matt Harvey is having Wild Thing Rick Vaughn type of struggles during the season.
Both Willie Mays Hayes and Michael Conforto went from bursting on the scene to having sophomore slumps.
Instead of going out and making a huge transaction to fix the teams’ need, they went outside the majors to help the team. The Mets acquired James Loney for cash considerations, and the Indians acquired Tanaka.
Speaking of Tanaka, he was at Citi Field visiting the Mets right before David Wright went on the DL:
photo Andrew Beaton‘s Twitter Account.
So far, he hasn’t helped these Mets find their marbles. Perhaps, it’s because Juan Uribe took them to Cleveland of all places.
There are only two more steps remaining for the Mets to truly become the Major League II Indians:
- They need to bring back Michael Cuddyer the way the Indians brought back Dorn; and
- The Mets need to win one more series than they did the prior year.
Hopefully, this is the point in the season when we can cue the Mets going on an insane winning streak allowing them to take control of the NL East and get to the World Series.
As Lou Brown said, “Ok, we won a game yesterday. If we win today, it’s called ‘two in a row.’ And if we win again tomorrow, it’s called ‘a winning streak’ . . . . It has happened before!” That’s where Matt Harvey . He’s on a streak of good starts.
On May 30th, he pitched seven innings allowing two hits, no runs, and one walk with six strikeouts. On June 5th, he pitched seven innings allowing four hits, one earned, and no walks with three strikeouts. Tonight, he pitched six innings allowing two hits, one earned, and two walks with eight strikeouts. That’s three straight starts allowing one run or less. That’s vintage Harvey.
Harvey did get some help in the third when replay overturned a run:
https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/741439922691706881
Initially, the umpires ruled Aaron Hill got in under Kevin Plawecki‘s tag. Upon replay, it was ruled Hill was out, and the run was taken off the board. The Brewers would have to wait until the fifth to score.
Ex-Met Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a one out triple to right, and he would score on Ramon Flores‘ sacrifice fly to left field. It was going to take a good throw to get Kirk out, but Alejandro De Aza was not up to the task. First, it got caught in his glove. Next, he double clutched. Finally, the throw was up the first base line. It was just one part of a bad game for De Aza.
In the first, he erased a Curtis Granderson leadoff walk by hitting into a double play. In the fifth Brewers starter, Junior Guerrera, intentionally walked Granderson to load the bases with two outs to face De Aza. De Aza grounded out meekly to second. Overall, he was 0-5.
Overall, the Mets batters weren’t hitting well. Even when Kelly Johnson hit a double in first at bat back with the Mets, he followed it up with a TOOBLAN. With no force play, he was slow (somewhat frozen) on a ball hit to the shortstop. He was tagged out, and Harvey was nailed at first ending the inning.
FINALLY, in the sixth the Mets gave Harvey some run support after not giving him any run support in 15 innings. Yoenis Cespedes did this:
433 Feet of Love.
From, @ynscspds #LGM pic.twitter.com/7Z391YzADo
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 11, 2016
He hit a laser to right center tying the game at 1-1. Unfortunately, that was all the run support Harvey would get as Nieuwenhuis did this to Johnson:
Harvey had a great start and a no decision. It would become a battle of the bullpens. It was a battle of escape acts.
Hansel Robles entered the game in the seventh, and it appeared like his struggles were going to continue. It was first and second with no outs with the newly minted Mets killer Nieuwenhuis at the plate. Robles struck him out, and then he got the next two batters to fly out to get out of the jam. Antonio Bastardo followed up with a 1-2-3 eighth.
Jeremy Jeffres did his Robles’ impersonation in the ninth by getting out of a bases loaded no out jam. First, Plawecki popped up to second. Neil Walker pinch hit for Bastardo and struck out looking. Granderson then meekly grounded out to second.
It was then Jim Henderson‘s turn for the Houdini act. He issued a one out walk to Jonathan Lucroy, who was pinch run for by Keon Broxton. Broxton would easily steal second, and he would go to third on a comedy of errors. Plawecki would bounce the ball 10 feet short of second, and the ball would go through Johnson’s legs allowing Broxton to go to third. After a walk to Chris Carter, he struck out Nieuwenhuis on three straight pitches, and he got Hill to ground out to end the inning.
Henderson was then pressed for a second inning out of the pen despite his injury history. The reason was unavailable after pitching three innings in today days, and Logan Verrett will start tomorrow due to the doubleheader. After walking the leadoff hitter Flores, Henderson had to leave the game with what appeared to be a blister. That made it Jerry Blevins turn to get out of the jam.
After a sac bunt, Blevins had a runner on second with one out, and he threw a pitch in the dirt. Flores took off for third, and he made it safely for a split second. Matt Reynolds, who was double switched into the game when Blevins entered the game, kept the tag on Flores, so when Flores oversold third, he was out. Rally over.
Wilmer Flores then cleared the Flores’ good surname in the 11th. He ripped a one out double pushing Asdrubal Cabrera to third. After Johnson was intentionally walked, the Mets found themselves in the same situation as they did in the ninth – bases loaded and no outs. Plawecki fouled out, and then all hell broke loose.
Reynolds hit a sharp liner at Jonathan Villar, who dropped it. He flipped the ball to Scooter Gennett, who stepped on second while Flores was standing there. By Gennett stepping on the bag, Johnson was out, but the Brewers didn’t know it. They didn’t know it because the second base umpire somehow called him safe. They got Johnson, who was already out, in a rundown. While this was happening Cabrera scored making it 2-1. Keith Hernandez put it best when he said everybody had to do back to school.
Jeurys Familia then came in and recorded his 21st save in his 21st chance to end all of this tomfoolery.
Game Notes: Harvey is the all-time leader for winless starts in which he’s allowed one run or less through a pitchers first 78 starts. It gets better:
This seems hard to fathom: Matt Harvey is now 15-5 with 16 no-decisions in his career in starts allowing one run or fewer.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) June 11, 2016
Well, it appears that Matt Harvey will be gone in 2019 if not sooner. According to Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball, a Mets impression of Harvey is, “He’s Gone.”
What we don’t know is why. Is Harvey gone because he is intent on testing free agency? Is Harvey gone because the Mets don’t like the negative media attention that surrounds him? Is Harvey gone because there are clubhouse conflicts? Is Harvey gone because the Mets just don’t want to spend the money? Is Harvey gone because the Mets believe his early season struggles are more indicative of a decline than a mechanical issue? Fact is, we don’t know, and we may never know.
What we do know is that the Mets were lucky to have Harvey. He was the first piece of the Mets turnaround when he burst on the scene in 2013. He had amazing game after amazing game. He almost pitched a perfect game against the White Sox, and he started the All Star Game. His return in 2015 was a key part of the Mets winning the division and going to the World Series. He almost willed the Mets to victory in Game 5. Time and again, Harvey has delivered. The hope is that he can help the Mets deliver a World Series title before he departs.
The hope now is that if the Mets are intent on moving on from Matt Harvey that they at least lock up Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. Both players have been just as instrumental as Harvey has been in this great turnaround. Unfortunately, according to Heyman, the Mets haven’t approached either one of them about a long term contract. Hopefully, the Mets will. This team is built on pitching, and they will need to keep some of these guys. However, it seems like Harvey will not be one of them.
With that said, we should all enjoy Matt Harvey while we all can.
Other than David Wright and Steven Matz, the Mets players grew up rooting for another team. That includes Matt Harvey, who grew up as a Yankee fan.
Do you know what Harvey’s Yankee fandom has to do with his pitching? Absolutely nothing. He just wants to win. He pitched more than anyone did post-Tommy John surgery. He gave it his all during the postseason. He may have grown up a Yankees fan, but right now, all he wants to do is to get a World Series ring with the Mets.
This dumb issue reared its head when the Mets selected Justin Dunn in the first round. He’s a Long Island kid from Freeport that grew up rooting for the Yankees. This will have no bearing on how he will pitch for the Mets when he gets to the big leagues. Oh, and by the way, I think he’s just a little excited to be a Met:
When you get picked 19th overall in the #MLBDraft with 34 of your brothers there with you!https://t.co/8fc04P6QIj
— BC Baseball (@BCBirdBall) June 10, 2016
Dunn just proves that these guys are excited to be Mets no matter who they rooted for growing up. He wants to be a Met, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.
You’re not going 162-0. It’s simply not going to happen. Even the 108 win 86 Mets lost 54 times. Your only hope is that when the Mets lose they can provide you with something positive.
Matt Harvey did that.
Harvey did take the loss, but he lost 1-0 against Jose Fernandez, a great pitcher in his own right. Harvey was good again today. He pitched seven innings allowing only four hits, one earned, and no walks with three strikeouts. He was averaging 96 MPH with his fastball. Harvey built upon his last start. This is a other sign the Harvey of old is coming back:
Since 1913, most games allowing one run or fewer by starting pitcher in first 77 starts:
Dwight Gooden: 38
Matt Harvey: 35— New York Mets Stats (@NYMStats) June 5, 2016
Ultimately, no one wants to see the Mets lose. However, this loss is more acceptable than most as Harvey took another step forward. Getting Harvey back to form is more important than the outcome of any game.
The Mets just had to tip their caps to Fernandez, who was awesome against the overmatched Mets backups:
José Fernández led the Marlins to a win over the Mets with 14 K. Here's a look inside his dominant performance: pic.twitter.com/OslZ22sCTb
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 5, 2016
Fernandez is difficult for any lineup. It’s even worse for a lineup without David Wright (DL – neck), Travis d’Arnaud (DL – shoulder), Yoenis Cespedes (DTD – hip), and yes, even Juan Lagares (DTD – presumed sprained thumb). About the only positive from the game from an offensive standpoint was Michael Conforto and James Loney going 1-3. Both hitters got hits in what has been a good series for both.
The Mets now travel to Pittsburgh where Neil Walker gets to face his old team. Making the matchup all the more interesting is the fact that old friend Jon Niese takes the mound.
Game Notes: Harvey recorded his 500th career strikeout in this game. Harvey fell to 1-18 in his career when the Mets give him two runs or less of run support. In those games, he has a 2.53 ERA in such games.
Lost in all the offensive struggles is the fact that this Mets team is built upon pitching. As a franchise, the Mets always have and always will be built upon pitching. It started with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jon Matlack in the late 60’s. It was continued in the 80’s with Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, and David Cone. The mantle was supposed to be picked up this year by the Mets young rotation.
However, the rotation has had some struggles. Matt Harvey struggled mightily going 2-4 in May with a 5.91 ERA. To a lesser extent, Jacob deGrom struggled in May going 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA. The concern with deGrom was not so much the results but the seemingly precipitous drop in velocity. These were to the two aces the Mets road all last year and into the postseason. These were supposed to be the two aces this year leading the team while the younger starters developed. Instead, the reverse has been true.
Noah Syndergaard has taken the next step this year. He is 5-2 with a 1.84 ERA and a 0.958 WHIP. He is throwing fastballs up and over 100 MPH, and more impressively, he is throwing sliders around 95 MPH. He is as dominant a pitcher as there is in baseball right now.
Steven Matz was named the National League Rookie of the Month for the Month of May. It was a well deserved honor after going 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA and a 0.757 WHIP. In fact, if you take away his first nightmare of a start, a start he made after a long period of inactivity, Matz is 7-0 with a 1.51 ERA and a 0.932 WHIP. Matz has been the pitcher everyone has imagined he would be and more since he burst onto the scene last year beating the Reds from the mound at the plate.
Overall, Syndergaard and Matz have taken the next step. On almost any other rotation, they would be the unquestioned ace. That was the same thing that has been said for Harvey and deGrom. On that front, there is some great news as well. In Harvey’s last start, he went seven innings allowing only two hits, no runs, and one walk with striking out six. In deGrom’s last start, he went seven innings allowing five hits, one run, and two walks while striking out 10. More importantly, deGrom’s velocity is returning with him getting his fastball up to 96 MPH.
So yes, it appears like the 2016 Mets are continuing the franchise’s legacy of having great pitching. With Syndergaard and Matz being ahead of schedule in their development coupled with Harvey and deGrom starting to return to last year’s form, the Mets rotation is stacked with four aces. If you’re a baseball player or a poker player, you know four aces is next to impossible to beat no matter whatever else you have in your hand . . . even if that hand contains the deuce that the Mets offense was over the month of May.
Remember back in 2013 when Matt Harvey burst on the scene?
He took the ball every fifth day, and he was dominant. He was just awesome, so awesome in fact, that he was the starting pitcher for the National League in the All Star Game played at Citi Field.
His off the field behavior was covered, but it was put in a positive light. His attending Rangers and Knicks games was seen as being “pretty cool.” The coverage for his appearance in the famed ESPN Magazine’s The Body Issue was about how good he looked. His man about town appearance on Jimmy Fallon was seen as hilarious:
Then he got hurt and needed Tommy John surgery. After that, the coverage of him changed. The breaking point was his attendance at Derek Jeter’s last game at Yankee Stadium. From that point forward, the coverage of Harvey changed from positive to negative. It’s gotten to the point where the media feels comfortable outright mocking him for a serious medical issue.
It’s important to keep Harvey’s story in mind when analyzing how Noah Syndergaard has been covered since he debuted with the Mets.
Syndergaard captivated New York with his 100 MPH fastballs. He was celebrated for not only knocking Alcides Escobar down in the World Series, but also for being the winning pitcher in Game 3 of the World Series.
He spent the offseason doing a tour of all of New York’s stadiums. Syndergaard’s getting his picture taken at home court, center ice, and the end zones was seen as a young player having fun in the offseason. Syndergaard’s hair garnered its own coverage with news articles about his prank about getting his haircut. During what has been a dominant season thus far, he appeared in Times Square dressed as Thor, and it was seen as being funny:
Just to recap:
- Syndergaard burst on the scene with dominating stuff;
- He pitched in a big game at Citi Field;
- He attended sporting events;
- He got attention for his appearance; and
- He did the man about the town routine.
Following the Harvey timeline, the only thing that remains is the media backlash. With Syndergaard’s day trip to the the Bahamas to play a round of golf, on an off day, the media found their opening. Here’s John Healey of the New York Daily News take on Syndergaard playing a round of golf:
It’s worth pointing out that Syndergaard is slated as the starting pitcher for Friday’s opener.
Last year in the postseason, Yoenis Cespedes drew criticism for golfing prior to a playoff game and later revealed he was battling a shoulder injury.
Should Syndergaard struggle on Friday or worse, sustain an injury, then he may regret sharing the fact he was golfing in the Bahamas the day before a start.
As seen here, the tone of the media’s coverage is changing. With a good start tonight, Syndetgaard will quiet the critics waiting to use this golf narrative to tear him down. However, sooner or later, Syndergaard will have an off night; all the great ones do. At that point, the media will pounce.
This article was the first warning shot. It fits the pattern of the Harvey coverage. It’s a shame because the criticism is unnecessary and unwarranted.
Yesterday, Matt Harvey may have turned his whole season around. His velocity, command, and swagger were back. Much of it had to do with the Mets finally spotting his mechanical flaw and fixing it. Another factor that wasn’t mentioned yesterday was it was the first time Rene Rivera caught Matt Harvey.
Rivera is a veteran journeyman catcher. He’s a great receiver that calls a good game. He is adept at both pitch framing and throwing out base stealers. He has a cannon throwing 34.4% of would be basestealers, which is second only to Yadier Molina among active catcher with 250+ stolen base attempts. From behind the plate, Rivera controls the game. He is a calm and steady presence back there.
This is what a young pitching staff needs more than anything. It’s what Gary Carter did for the 86 Mets. It’s what Rivera did for the Rays.
With the Rays, Rivera had been part of the development of their young pitchers, specifically Chris Archer. With Rivera behind the plate, Archer limited batters to a 93 OPS+. With all the other catchers, who have caught him, batters have a 100 OPS+ against Archer. The young Archer was just a better pitcher with the veteran behind the plate.
We’re seeing it again with Rivera and Noah Syndergaard. In the limited time, they’ve worked together, Syndergaard has limited batters to an 87 OPS+. In the four games, they have been combined, Syndergaard has a 1.54 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP. Part of that is Rivera controlling the game behind the plate. Part of that is Rivera controlling the running game allowing Syndergaard to just focus on the batter.
The results with Archer and Syndergaard show Rivera’s value. We may have seen it again with Harvey yesterday. Seeing how Rivera handles a young staff, it’s hard to justify not playing him everyday.
In fact, the only excuse is his offense. He’s a career .209/.258/.329 hitter with a 64 OPS+. This year, he’s hitting an even worse .148/.281/.259 with a 50 OPS+. Given the Mets offensive problems, it’s hard to justify putting this bat in the lineup everyday. Unfortunately, Plawecki isn’t a stumbling block.
For the second straight year, Kevin Plawecki has struggled in Travis d’Arnaud’s absence. He’s hitting .196/.292/.272 with a 57 OPS+. He’s actually worse than he was last year when he had the excuse of getting called to the majors too soon and experiencing dizzy spells during games. Right now, Plawecki is showing the Mets that he either belongs in the minor leagues, or he is nothing more than a backup catcher.
Given the comparable OPS+ figures, Rivera and Plawecki are effectively the same person at the plate. With that said, the Mets should play the catcher who is better and handling a pitching staff and controlling the running game. There is no doubt that is Rene Rivera. It’s time for the Mets to make Rivera the everyday catcher until Travis d’Arnaud returns.
Editor’s Note: this was also published on metsmerizedonline.com