When the National Anthem was being sung today on this July 4th, Matt Harvey didn’t think the rockets’ red glare meant what was going to happen to him on the mound.
But today’s pitching line for No. 33 looked like it was sponsored by Grucci.
Three and two thirds innings, giving up 11 hits, six runs and five of them earned.
And coming into today Harvey has 10 losses on the season to go with his four wins, only an Amazin’ comeback prevented loss No. 11 today.
He’s making every Met fan see red, waive the white flag and feel blue.
How patriotic of him.
So if you are Terry Collins you have to be concerned.
“I don’t know if you were at the Washington game the other day, but if you saw him the other night, the answer is no,” Collins said. “And tonight it was back to… the command wasn’t good, the ball was in the middle of the plate, couldn’t make his pitch, the ball didn’t have the late life you normally see and I told (pitching coach) Dan (Warthen), when he came out, it was back to the drawing board. You have to recreate what made him look so good in Washington. But I have to say there’s some concern.”
Fortunately for the Mets, they only have to suffer from one more of Harvey’s starts until the All-Star Break, but why wait?
For the clubs well being and especially the pitcher’s psyche, the Mets should ship Harvey’s next start, which will give them time to make a decision on their former ace.
Harvey looks lost out there. Much like Michael Conforto, he has a crisis of confidence, where there’s nothing wrong with him physically, but mentally, he’s just all messed up.
“Rest assured, he’s never been through this before,” Collins said. “I don’t know how he feels but coming off that series and as well as he threw in Washington. We have to figure out what’s going on to have some idea how he feels. Dan’s talking about this issue with his delivery. We have to get back and fix it.”
Giving Harvey a two week sabbatical may be the best thing for the righthander right now.
Start Logan Verrett, Seth Lugo or even Hansel Robles. Anyone but Harvey against the Nationals on Saturday would be an improvement. You can’t start Harvey. Not against the Nationals.
In Panic City, Harvey right now is the mayor. He is a major contributor to the Mets problems.
And if you are Collins, don’t let Harvey strong arm you into staying in the rotation. Any spot on this roster is a meritocracy and needs to be earned.
An ERA of 4.86 doesn’t give a player the right to dictate terms. If he’s going to sit down, it’s needs to be the Mets decision. If he is going to pay Wally Backman a visit, there’s no need to argue it with him or Scott Boras. This should be a pure baseball decision.
One could make a serious argument that it’s been Harvey that’s curtailed the Mets season so far. If he was the Dark Knight for the first three months of the year, the team would probably be in first place, but because of his Anthony Young like performance, they are fighting for the Wild Card.
Right now, the Mets are a lot of moving parts and general manager Sandy Alderson, Collins and the staff have done a pretty good job rolling with the punches. Lose Lucas Duda and James Loney comes in. David Wright goes out and Jose Reyes is out there to be signed, warts and all, which also pushed Wilmer Flores to start hitting.
And Conforto was sent out to bring to Brandon Nimmo, who has become a breath of fresh air.
Harvey, though, is trickier. You have to deal with his high maintenance personality and the demands of Boras, who act like his spot is a destined and not earned.
But something has to be done. There are too many important games coming up down the stretch to put this easy target on the mound every five days.
A tough decision has to be made and you don’t have to be a patriot to know that.
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