27
2012
Matt Harvey Makes Amazin’ Debut, Leads Mets To Memorable 3-1 Victory
An article by 
What a way for Matt Harvey to break into the big leagues! Rarely do you see a guy exceed the expectations and hype surrounding him prior to his debut. 5 1/3 shutout frames, 11 punchouts and one big first win to end the Mets six-game skid.
Recap:
The Mets rolled into Arizona ice cold, coming off an 0-6 homestand and a 1-11 post-All-Star Game stretch. The morale was at an all-time low. Then this kid from Triple-A Matt Harvey comes up to join the rotation, –carting his catcher with him– to stop the bleeding at a time where many believe the Amazin’s have already bled out.
This team that has been so awful looking on all sides of the diamond as of late looked like a different team today. In the top of the first, Tejada and Murphy quickly reached base to set up a first and third situation with nobody out. They both came around to score on a Scott Hairston double, handing their rookie phenom an early 2-0 lead.
Then the real show started. The Mets 2010 first round, seventh overall draft pick out of UNC Chapel Hill, Matt Harvey, took the hill. He threw a 93- MPH fastball on the inside edge for a called strike to commence his big-league career. Three pitches later, the 23-year old also had his first strikeout. He allowed his first hit to Jason Kubel who hit a cue shot while the shift was on, allowing him to walk to first base. He would then retire the side by getting Goldschmidt on a called third strike.
In the top of the second, Harvey showed off his offensive skills. roping a double just over the reach of Gerardo Parra to collect a knock in his first at-bat. He would go 2-2 on the evening and is now batting 1.000, what CAN’T he do?!
Continuing to dominate the Diamondbacks lineup, mixing in all four of his pitches in order to do so –at several times touching 98 on the gun–, Harvey showed every single viewer from both in the stand and across the nation why he has become so highly touted. Getting batter after batter swinging, the righty slowly worked his way all the way to the history books. The Mets franchise record for puchouts in an MLB debut was eight, set by Tom Seaver –then tied by Bill Denehy three days later– in 1967, but no more. Harvey had himself eleven, count them eleven, punchouts of the 23 batters he faced, not allowing any of them to cross the plate. He ended his evening with 5 1/3 innings pitched, allowing no runs on a mere three hits while walking three and punching out ELEVEN, taking the victory in his first MLB decision.
The bullpen, as always, made things interesting. After Edgin pitched an exceptional 1 2/3 frames, Jon Rauch came on for the eighth and quickly allowed the tying run to make it up to the plate with runners on second and third with just one out. Kubel scored Arizona’s only run on a sac fly to make it a 3-1 ballgame heading into the ninth.
Parnell came on for the save and did his part to make things interesting as well. He walked two and struck out two, creating a first and second situation with Jason Kubel coming up representing the go-ahead run. Parnell got Kubel looking to end the ballgame, handing the Mets their 48th victory on the year and Harvey his 1st.
Hero Of The Game:
Is it any mystery? Matt Harvey. In short, Harvey is batting 1.000, has a 0.00 ERA, 11 punchouts and a 1-0 record? What a way to start your MLB career! Hoepfully one of many great efforts by Harvey for years to come, the future is bright!
Notes:
-Harvey was the first pitcher in the modern era to collect two hits and have 10+ punchouts in their MLB debut.
-Harvey is tied with Tim Hudson for second for the number of strikeouts in an MLB debut among active pitchers. The leader is of course Strasburg in his 14K affair.
-Scott Hairston had himself a three-hit game, collecting two doubles and a pair of RBIs
-Ruben Tejada, Andres Torres and of course Matt Harvey also had multi-hit games on the night.
Up Next:
The Mets look to secure a series win (woah, that seems like a foreign concept as of late.) tomorrow with Jon Niese on the hill Friday starting at 9:40pm.
About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
Last updated: 06/19/2013
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LoL Justin Turner tweets,
No I didn’t get @MattHarvey43 with a pie, but we did great him back into the clubhouse with a “beverage” shower
https://twitter.com/redturn2/status/228731542078377984
I’m guessing he meant “greet” not great.
Wait, they are allowed to score more runs than the other team? Since when?
Notice donal, your false god, the clown you worship decided and told the world that Mr Harvey just wasn’t ready. Congrats to Harvey, and shame on the Mets for having a GM who totally sucks, just like the worshippers of the false god.
Congrats to Matt Harvey, the start of something bigger and better.
Shame they still let little children and their juvenile BS post on the internet. This whole God, worship, crap is old already. That clown you speak of brought him up didn’t he? We get it, you hate the guy, you and your little girls club should start your own blog so you can spew your hate every day and make up things people never said.
We get it, you hate the guy, you and your little girls club should start your own blog so you can spew your hate every day and make up things people never said”
You see why people offend you??? If one of us send you to the kitchen you right away go to joe D etc to complain about how you’re getting no respect etc… Was there a need for you to take a shot at real men calling them little girls? Your gender nonetheless? this is why you’re the biggest baiter in here, people like you and even flow NEVER make a comment and move on, you feel the need to bait people by calling them out and when they attack back you get offended.. IT’s amazing how people like you have managed to stay unbanned all this time..
How about you take your own advice and never bother to comment? You are like that little kid in Kindergarten who breaks something and blames it on someone else. It’s sad that you will never take responsibility of YOU being the biggest baiter here. You can’t go one day going after the same people over & over again on here either on here or on the shoutbox. Yet you wanna go crying to Joe D? LOL you sad little child.
Time to ride your ship to Fantasy Island. You certainly live in a different world from the rest of the world, what is it like? Learn what the word “bait” actually means, if you just read the majority of your own posts you may figure it out. Stop making up lies about “running to Joe D”.
Real men? That’s a joke right, real men can articulate a differing opinion minus the juvenile references and personal insults. Keep talking about how this one and that one only posts when………….while you keep thinking this one and that one should be banned because they don’t think like you.
Man, shut the **** up and take that rambling garbage somewhere else.
Cool story, brah. I bet you are all proud of yourself for getting words out.
What else can be said?? The KID was ON last night…
Nice job, kid. I was nervous coming in in how he’d do, but I came away VERY impressed in what I saw and he looked like a completely different pitcher in this one than I’ve seen a handful of times in Buffalo. I knew this game was his when he had his 7th K after 3 frames. Thought he would’ve went on further in the game, but nonetheless, congratulations on the 1st ML win. With that said, who didn’t know he could hit? Ya’ll forgot he had a HR this year? The kid can do it all.
Nice work. he has a much better fastball than I realized. When he spots it. I see what they mean by command with him. If he can put that fastball letter high inside when he wants he will do fine. And 98 is better than I thought he could do.
Congrats to Matt Harvey on his MLB debut.
Well worth staying up for this late game start.
We’re all overjoyed at Matt’s performance last night but we still have to err on the side of caution. Am sure he will work about much better than Dick Rusteck, this new breeder’s first heartbreak after his rookie debut. Anybody remember him? The boxscore of “golden boys” first game is attached:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196606100.shtml