Photo Credit: Rich Schultz/Getty Images
Mets pitcher Matt Harvey came into the league in 2012 and was quickly anointed the savior of baseball in Queens. The former first round pick finished his rookie season, starting ten games, with 73 strikeouts and an incredible 2.73 ERA. The Mets had found their ace who carried the confidence of ten year veteran. Harvey quickly became must see television despite the Mets being a below average team who finished with a 74-88 record. Immediately he became a fan favorite with Mets fans ready to call him the new “Doctor K”, the original being strikeout king Dwight Gooden.
A longtime embarrassment to professional sports, Harvey brought legitimacy to the Mets organization who were already gearing up for a shot at the playoffs behind the scenes. Zach Wheeler, acquired from the San Francisco Giants in the trade for Carlos Beltran, made his debut and he also was an immediate star. The Mets had a one-two pitching combination that was right up there with the best duos in baseball. That same year, baseball fans learned the devastating news that Harvey’s season had to be cut short as he announced that he had a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament and would have to undergo Tommy John surgery. Nobody sounded more heartbroken about the news than Harvey himself.
Forced to sit out the entire 2014 season, Harvey was eager to get on the mound for the start of 2015. After a few deep breaths, Harvey dug his foot in and stared down Michael Taylor, the first batter he faced in a regular season game since undergoing surgery. Striking out nine and not allowing a run, it was clear Harvey was still the same pitcher before surgery. He got some help with breakout star Jacob deGrom and rookie flamethrowers Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz. Harvey helped lead a young pitching staff to the World Series, but the team sadly fell short to the Royals.
The series ended after manager Terry Collins allowed Harvey to pitch the ninth inning of game five. Harvey held the Royals bats silent for eight innings, but things started coming undone in the ninth. Looking back, Harvey knew it was a mistake for him to return for the final inning instead of allowing closer Jeurys Familia to do his job. A burden he had to carry for the entire offseason as the Mets had to watch the Royals celebrate on their field as the final image of their season.
This season had a lot of high expectations for the team. This pitching staff was supposed to be the best in the league and even considered one of the best of all-time. Unfortunately, Harvey has found himself in a new position, a pitcher who looks lost on the mound. Harvey’s fastball has only topped out at 96 MPH, impressive still, but he was throwing 99 MPH just a season ago. Harvey also seems to have lost command of some of his off speed pitches that made him a strikeout machine. The strikeouts had started falling off last season, but it was not much of a concern because he was still getting outs. The worst part, nobody seems to know what is wrong the Dark Knight. It says he feels fine, his arm is healthy, but it is just not translating onto the field. There are flashes of the old Harvey when he throws a nasty slider or a breaking ball in the dirty for strike three, but he is not the same confident pitcher who demanded the ball from his manager.
This is the true test of Harvey’s greatness. Rough patches are common for an athlete’s career, but if he cannot recover from this, he will surely be run out of a town like New York. After a miserable performance last week, fans have started to let him know that they want better from their ace. He has shown that he will not go down easily. After being given the option to skip his scheduled start today against that very same Nationals team that beat him up last week, he welcomed the challenge. Today’s start in Washington D.C. is bigger than game five of the World Series or his first career start since surgery. If Harvey can have a clean outing, which includes lasting at least six innings, the confidence will come back.
