How many of you are sitting at home tonight, wondering and asking yourselves how long it will be until we finally see Zack Wheeler wearing that uniform and hurling 98 mph fastballs from the mound at Citi Field?

The question is not an easy one to answer and in fact it’s a perfect paradox by virtue of the logical arguments one can make for either side. It’s a conundrum, that much is true, but it’s a wonderful dilemma to be in.

Four starts ago, I talked about his mechanical flaw that kept him from harnessing the command of his four plus-pitches. I even said that a small tweak could fix that flaw and give him a more consistent release point and enable him to spot his pitches better than he had been.

By sheer coincidence, Wheeler did make an adjustment after that start, and while it didn’t completely eliminate that inverted w, it’s certainly no longer as pronounced as it once was. More importantly, his release point is now not lagging behind his plant as drastically as it was before. He’s now throwing the ball exactly where he wants it to go, and it’s no longer the guessing game it used to be. He’s no longer crossing up his catcher. Let me interject that Juan Centeno deserves some credit for this transformation. Calling games and being a top defensive backstop is what Centeno does best.

Anyway, the results have been dramatic.

Over his last three starts, Wheeler has thrown a combined 20 innings and allowed just three earned runs. But the real news here is that Wheeler struck out 19 and walked only three batters – one in each start.

To put that into perspective, that’s three walks in his last 20 innings as compared to 15 walks in his previous 23.1 innings before he tweaked his delivery.

Four starts ago, Wheeler ranked 47th in ERA among qualified starters in the PCL, his 3.74 ERA now ranks 16th and looks so much better than the 7.67 he sported after his first five starts.

To those so-called experts and quasi-analysts who blamed the humidity or lack thereof for his woes, or that it was the altitude playing tricks on his brain, I’ll stand by what I’ve said all along. “None of that stuff matters if you’re pitching great.” The problem was mechanical and not related to all those cop-outs and excuses. Many great pitchers have made it through the PCL just fine as I pointed out last month.

We are now seeing the Zack Wheeler that we’ve all been anxiously awaiting since the middle of the 2011 season. The kid with electric stuff and four phenomenal pitches is now throwing strikes and pounding the zone. He’s hitting the corners, overpowering hitters, and sending them back to the dugout talking to themselves. He’s gone from a great thrower to a great pitcher.

This feels so good, and the timing is beginning to feel right.

In Spring Training, Terry Collins challenged Wheeler and told him, “If you want to be a major leaguer, go to Triple-A and pitch great.”

Guess what, Terry? Zack Wheeler is pitching great.

The Mets sure could use a jolt of enthusiasm and energy on this team right now…

Matt Harvey sure could use somebody to help him shoulder the load in the Mets rotation…

Met fans could use another reason to keep watching…

I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if bringing Wheeler up now will cost the Wilpons a few million dollars over the first seven years of team control. My regular readers know my feelings about Met fans who like to play team accountants. This is New York not Oakland or San Diego.

If Wheeler is ready than he should be called up and to make room for him, I’ll drive Shaun Marcum to the airport myself.

If Wheeler’s dominance continues in his next start, I see no reason why he shouldn’t be able to join the Mets rotation during the next homestand when the Cincinnati Reds come to Citi Field. Or better yet give him a couple of extra days of rest and have him make his Major League Debut against the New York Yankees on May 27 at Citi Field. I just love the sound of that, don’t you?.

As you know, MMO has been covering every Zack Wheeler start like white on rice. Our reports and analysis are based on our own observations, discussions with scouts, and of course what we learn from Wally and Randy.

The following are some thoughts from Rob and Mitch from last night. But before that I just want to thank the incredible Jay Horwitz for bailing me out yesterday. If you’re reading this Jay, that was awesome, thanks a lot.

Thoughts from Rob

Last night I was at Cashman Field to witness the ace of the Las Vegas 51s and prized prospect Zack Wheeler on the mound. In many ways Wheeler lived up to the hype and pitched as expected. However, what I did NOT expect was the competitive spirit he displayed. His poise is more like what one would expect from a seasoned veteran and not a kid three weeks shy of turning 23.

Wheeler pitched well, keeping Albuquerque batters on their toes all evening long. He tossed 7 1/3 innings, the longest of any 51s pitcher this season, allowing just two runs on six hits and fanned seven while walking just one and throwing 61 of his 91 pitches for strikes, his best ratio this season. No opposing batter reached second base again until the seventh.

It was good to see how Wheeler responded when some pressure and adversity came his way. After Alburquerque outfielder Matt Angle launched a first pitch fastball from Wheeler high into the Vegas night he was unfazed. His manager  Wally Backman showed faith in him and didn’t even come out to settle him down. He didn’t wave to the bullpen either. Instead he gave his young ace a chance to show what he was made of and Wheeler answered the call by striking out the next batter on a knee-buckling curveball. Nasty.

After watching him tonight, it’s clear—as we’ve all been reading and hearing—that Wheeler has “the stuff.” What I learned, however, is that he also has the make-up. He did not get rattled. He did not get flustered. When he had to reach back for something extra, he succeeded.

Another interesting observation about Wheeler was the efficiency he pitches with. He keeps the game moving at a quick clip. He doesn’t take a lot of time between pitches. This obviously keeps the fielder’s sharp. Steve Trachsel he’s not.

It seems like every few years we Mets fans hear about ‘the next’ Tom Seaver or Jerry Koosman. We hear it so much we’be become numb to it. Am I saying Zack Wheeler will be the next Koosman to Matt Harvey’s Seaver? No.

However, after seeing Harvey pitch over the last month and personally witnessing Zack Wheeler last night, maybe, just maybe, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Thoughts from Mitch

Wheeler was locked into cruise control for the majority of the night. He threw 99 pitches, 61 for strikes, and only allowed one walk to his final batter. He gave up a run early in the first inning, but settled down after that and took control of the game.

Wheeler showed poise after he gave up a leadoff home run to Matt Angle in the seventh, but he stuck out the next batter and retired the side in order, looking unphased in the process. He continues to build on his previous performances, and it appears that fixing the mechanical glitch has made the difference. Since the fix, he has only walked three batters, one in each of his past three starts. One more thing, late in the game when he fanned his last batter, he was still hitting 96 mph on the radar gun…wow.

One of my greatest wishes as a relatively young Mets fan is wanting to have seen Tom Seaver pitch.

Sure, I’ve seen the highlight videos and World Series tapes that portrayed his dominance, but it’s still not the same as seeing the best pitcher in Mets’ history actually toe the rubber.

However, albeit still very early, we younger Mets fans are seeing firsthand what it was like when Seaver took the mound in the form of Matt Harvey – just throwing it out there that I was also too young to remember Doc Gooden as well.

Harvey has been dominant this year, and his body of work is very similar to that of Seaver.

Harvey has a slightly bigger build than Seaver when he pitched, but Seaver still fit the mold of a powerful right-hander.

Both have explosive fastballs and aren’t afraid to challenge hitters up in the zone – again going back to at least what I’ve seen from Seaver on the tapes.

Both have at least one good secondary pitch: Seaver mostly a slider and Harvey a curveball, slider and change-up. Harvey already has shown great command of each of these pitches, just like Seaver demonstrated with his slider.

Certainly, the mental approach by each pitcher resembles one another. That “bulldog” mentality if always wanting to win allowed each to experience success very early in their careers – and we naturally hope Harvey’s success continues for plenty more years.

But of all the similarities between the two, the fact that each came up with an inept offensive team is just uncanny.

The Mets really have never been known as an offensive team, but to not somehow scratch together a run when your pitcher is working on a perfect game really is embarrassing. Yes, Hector Santiago threw a very good game Tuesday night for the White Sox, but that’s where you have to dig deep and dent the plate at least once.

I looked at Seaver’s rookie year in 1967 and compared it with the first few months of Harvey’s career. Seaver made 34 starts during his Rookie of the Year campaign and finished with a 16-13 record.

However, he had just a 2.76 ERA, and in those 34 starts, he only gave up four or more runs eight times. He also threw 18 complete games, but we’ll overlook that for now since today’s game is much different than back then – especially when dealing with pitch counts and innings limits.

As for Harvey in 17 career starts, he’s given up four or more runs in a start just once and has a collective 2.07 ERA. Yet his career mark is only 7-5.

Now I don’t want to only point the finger at the offense for a lack of production. There likely were times – albeit few – that the Mets actually scored a comfortable amount of runs for Seaver, and the same will be true for Harvey eventually.

It may not even out fully, but there will be times when Harvey doesn’t have his best stuff and the Mets score enough runs to get him the win.

But just imagine if Seaver and Harvey had any sort of consistent run support. Is it so much for a pitcher to ask his team to score four runs per game? If that was the case for Harvey, he could potentially be 11-1, not to even mention the no-decisions.

Ok, it’s definitely not as cut and dry as that, but what I’m saying here is that it’s just the typical Mets way to have an ace-type pitcher yet not be able to score a single run.

Let’s hope that changes as Harvey continues to progress. Based on what we saw Tuesday night, he may only need one run per game.

Luckily, he’s a decent hitter too, so he should be able to help himself at the plate. Like a typical Little League superstar game, Harvey could pitch a complete game shutout and hit a home run to win the game.

That might be his only chance to consistently pick up wins.

The truth is that love him. I was crazy about him as a player, and I’ve felt as though we became buddies, through the magic of TV, when he joined Gary and Ron in the booth.

But lately he’s been kind of cranky and he seems to pick on some of our players a little too much at times.

The other day, MMO staff writer Drew Staley wrote about his exchange with Ron and Gary about Lucas Duda. He’s completely frustrated with him. He doesn’t like this “approach” we keep hearing about and he went a little overboard when Duda didn’t swing at a first pitch strike during the Braves series with Wright at second.

I remember something he said last season the day after Duda came back from his banishment to the minors. “No improvement. It’s the same old Duda. It’s the same old hacker.”

At the time he said that he was actually right. Duda looked just as bad as he did before he went down.

But fast-forward to 2013 and we see a completely new Duda. Someone who is being more selective which is something he didn’t do much of last season. So far it’s given him a great OBP and OPS, but the raw numbers could probably be a lot better and he needs to get those up. Baseball is still a game that is based on the law of averages and I do think the RBI’s and run production will come as long as he sticks to his new approach.

The point is that Hernandez complained about Duda being a hacker last season, and now he’s complaining that he’s not a hacker this season. Pick a side and stick to it.

Okay, enough on that. There were a few interesting comments on Hernandez on out threads yesterday and while there’s no way for me to affirm their veracity, it thought it merited a debate and closer examination.

Phil Phil – May 7, 2013 at 2:04 pm

According to Mets reporter Bob Klapisch, Keith told reporter around the country not to vote for Darryl Strawberry for MVP in 1988 when Darryl had a huge year.

Keith was a real good player, but a lot of times he has an agenda. Beware of listening too closely to what he says. He knows baseball, but he also holds grudges and uses the media to go after guys.

I don’t think he likes the hitting coach, Sandy A., or some of the players. He didn’t like Jose Reyes. He almost got into a fight on the team plane.

Lisa – May 7, 2013 at 4:15 pm

My friend works for SNY and told me the reason Keith doesn’t like the taking pitches and high OBP strategy is it makes the games longer and he wants quick games so he can go home and have a nice glass of vino.

Keith also hates extra innings. My friend said to listen for sighs when the game is tied thru 9 innings.

Metsie – May 7, 2013 at 4:20 pm

LOL Lisa yes there is a LOT of truth in what your saying about Keith and the notion of getting out of there as quickly as possible….

But when he was a hitter he also practiced what he preached… He always said that in a Hitter’s count or with a man on base he wanted to look for that GOOD PITCH he was more likely to get and get what he calls a Rib Eye Steak!

And no one was a better hitter than him when he had the Pitcher on the ropes. So it’s not like he just came to this opinion he has exhibited it his entire playing career.

Lisa – May 7, 2013 at 4:40 pm

Ha, ha! Keith’s dream is a nice, crisp 1-0 game that finishes in 1 hour and 45 minutes so he can make it to the steakhouse to have a nice rib-eye steak and a bottle of high end wine. Ideally, Rusty Staub and Tom Seaver would be in town to join him!

Metsie – May 7, 2013 at 4:53 pm

LOL you can probably name about 10,000 Things Keith would rather be doing than being in that booth if you just listen to him during a game!

I actually understand it since when I work Baseball games about the worst thing that can happen is when it rains, Extra Innings or gets postponed and rescheduled as a Double-Header on getaway day.

Most techs who work on the game get paid per day and don’t get any overtime until after 12-16 Hours. And we have to be there about 4-5 Hours before game time even starts.

But he shouldn’t really let that get out when he’s on the air especially as obvious as he makes it sound.

It’s almost become common dialog for Gary and Ron to joke about Keith’s frequent tardiness, his propensity for leaving early, and the many days off he takes throughout the baseball season.

He certainly has shown that he can hold a grudge and led the parade when Jose Reyes came out of the game on the last day of the 2011 season to preserve and win his NL Batting Title.

Again, let me reiterate that I love Keith Hernandez the player and for the longest time Keith Hernandez the color commentator for SNY. But lately I get the perception that he would rather be anywhere else but in the SNY booth. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m just reading too much into things. But when I saw those comments on last night’s game thread I realized I was not alone in this thinking.

Another thing…

For the longest time I have enjoyed the combination of GKR, they are no doubt the best broadcast team in the game. But I gotta tell you that I was incredibly impressed and entertained during the game that Kevin Burkhardt called on FOX two Saturday’s ago.

Burkhardt was so refreshing on my ears and he was a joy to listen to. I couldn’t believe it… Here I was listening to a Fox Mets broadcast and throughout the entire time I never once felt as though I was missing GKR.

Tom Verducci and Burkhardt teamed up and formed a great tandem, and their insights and analysis was beyond reproach.

I’m thinking it may be time to stick to with GKR, but maybe we should consider swapping out Keith for Kevin.

Sorry if you disagree, but that’s how I feel.

My pick is the fourth game of the season, April 12, at St. Louis, with Tom Seaver outdueling Bob Gibson, 2-1, to give the Mets a 4-0 start.

It was Seaver’s second start, with his first being a shutout over Philadelphia’s Steve Carlton. His third start was a 1-0 loss to Chicago’s Ferguson Jenkins.

Three games against three Hall of Famers, and five runs of support. It was pretty much that way for Seaver that season, his second in which he won the Cy Young Award.

Seaver was magnificent, going 19-10 with a league-leading 2.08 ERA, 18 complete games and 290 innings pitched. You don’t find that kind of durability anymore.

There are other amazing numbers, including a 0.976 WHIP and a 251-64 strikeouts-walks ratio. Seaver averaged 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings, the fourth straight season out of five in which he led the NL in that category.

All that is simply saying the words “overwhelmingly awesome and dominant’’ in numerical language. Old stats or new, batters had a hard time hitting off Seaver, let alone scoring against him that year.

In examining the box score from that afternoon, you can gain a sense of much the game has changed, beginning with it played in the afternoon.

Because it was a day game – and the match-ups – I thought it might have been Opening Day in St. Louis, but that was the previous day. A massive crowd of 12,290 showed up Opening Day, but only 6,356 saw Seaver-Carlton, which was played in a nifty 1:51.

In addition to the attendance, time it was played and length, what also stood out for me was how clean the box scores were. The Mets used only ten players, the last being Phil Hennigan relieving Seaver in the eighth inning. The Cardinals used 11 players, Tim McCarver as a pinch-hitter for shortstop Ray Busse, and reserve shortstop Mike Tyson. Gibson threw a complete game, one of 13 that season (breaking a string of five straight years of over 20 complete games).

If a game like that were played today, there would have been an abundance of gamesmanship in the form of pinch-hitters and relievers. Back then, the managers turned the game over to, and trusted, their starters.

The Mets gave Seaver all the support he needed in the first inning on Jon Milner’s RBI single and Cleon Jones’ sacrifice fly.

Small crowds, fast games and Hall of Fame pitching match-ups are an indication of how the game has changed over the past four decades.

This game also represented a trend to come that year, and that was the propensity for the Mets playing close games, as they were 31-32 in one-run games that year. One might have thought a World Series team would have a better one-run record, but it must be remembered the Mets barely cracked .500 that year.

It also showed Seaver would have to do much of the heavy lifting himself. And, he could handle the load.

Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

NYC Blackout Shuts Out Shea In 1977

It had been a sweltering hot summer in NY, so hot that my dad and I had taken to sitting out in the backyard to listen to the games.  It was July 13, 1977, and the Mets were playing the Cubs. They were losing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth in spite of  an 11-strikeout effort by Jerry Koosman. We were eating watermelon and cheese. I remember spitting watermelon seeds out towards the tomato plants occasionally bouncing a seed off the big red tomatoes hanging from the vines.

Jerry Koosman, who had always been good, had never been Tom Seaver great. If we went to a game and Koosman was pitching it was like getting almost what you wanted for Christmas, like getting a pair of Pro-Keds instead of the Converse hightops you had your eye on … I was 12, what did I know? I’d been spoiled by one of the greatest ever to pitch off a mound and I was still reeling from having lost my all-time favorite NY Met. With Seaver gone, you’d think I would have grown to appreciate Koosman’s ability, but it was just the opposite. I grew to resent Koosman even more because he wasn’t Tom Seaver. Koosman became something like a bad imitation, an imitation that offered no consolation when the real thing ended up being taken away forever.

So we listened to the game and swatted mosquitoes and ate watermelon and sharp Greek cheeses. My mom and my sister weren’t home because my sister was in class over at Queens College and my mom had taken the car to go pick her up. Normally my sister would take the bus, but lately my mom had become so worried about this .44 caliber killer the tabloids had tabbed “Son of Sam,” that she’d taken to driving her out and picking her up every night.

My sister also happened to be a long-haired brunette which apparently was a favorite target of this particular psycho. Anyway, we’re listening with Lenny Randle at the plate and Ray Burris pitching and suddenly there’s a roar in the crowd and Lindsey Nelson starts going on about the lights going out in the stadium and just as I was explaining to my Dad that the lights had gone out (he had a hard time with any English vocabulary that wasn’t specific to his remarkably complete baseball lexicon – he even knew what a balk was) the radio went dead. It didn’t hit us at first because there weren’t any lights in the backyard, so we were just kind of staring at the radio wondering what happened. Then we heard the yelling and screaming from all around us and realized the lights had gone out, all the lights, everywhere.
It was becoming a long night as we sat in the hot kitchen lit only with a few old Easter candles while my dad paced back and forth chain-smoking. We were waiting for my mom and sister to get home. We had no idea where they were or how they’d get back in the dark. Eventually they did manage to get home without getting shot or looted, well past 11:00 PM. We were just happy to be together and safe.

My sister later explained that Mom had pretty much driven the entire way never exceeding 15 miles per hour with the windows up and never coming to a full stop. We ended up laughing a little as my parents fretted about spoiled cheese and melted butter at the store (my family owned a small deli on Roosevelt Ave.), and after a while we didn’t even mind the dark so much as we drifted off to bed. The noise of the increasingly more distant and sporadic yelling continued to waft through our open windows throughout the night with my dad keeping a quiet vigil at the front of the house, guarding from whatever chaos might happen by.

My friend Andy from across the street who was three years my elder was at the game that night with his cousins. He told me all about it the following day the same way he’d retell rated R movies scene for scene, word for word. I’ll never forget listening to him recite Jaws in all it’s gory and suspenseful detail, I swear it took longer for him to retell the movie than the movie itself. It took him a week to finish the Exorcist.

Anyway he explained how they didn’t realize it was a city-wide blackout until they were filing out and heard from people who’d been in the upper decks that the entire grid was black. He described the strange scene on the field as the players drove their cars onto the outfield grass with their headlights on and mimed infield practice to entertain the fans while the organist played Christmas music. Emergency generators lit up parts of the the stands but many of the halls and corridors were pitch black. Eventually they tired of waiting and slowly made their way out. They ended up walking the entire way back to 98th street, Corona.

Thinking back to that summer I can’t imagine a more fitting metaphor to losing the Franchise, Tom Seaver, than being left dumbfounded in the dark with a dead radio in the middle of a game. They’d turned the lights out on us and herded us into the pitch-black unknown. I’ll never forget the front page of the Daily News, “Seaver to Reds; Kingman to S.D.” We couldn’t make any sense of it. I read the paper to my dad and we concluded it was all about money, but I was way too young to understand anything about free agency or renegotiating contracts or personal pride.

What precipitated the split was the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that was signed on July 12, 1976. It was the beginning of free agency. Only four months earlier, the Mets had signed Seaver to a three-year, $675,000 contract, and he was, at that time, baseball’s highest paid pitcher.

Later that winter as the first batch of free agents cashed in with players signing million dollar contracts (even Nolan Ryan ended up making more than Seaver as Gene Autry offered him a 300,000 dollar base salary in lieu of Nolan’s impending free agency), Seaver wanted to renegotiate. But the bitter pill for fans came after the realization that there was actually a renegotiated contract in place that would have kept Seaver in Queens when a story by Dick Young appeared in the Daily News describing how Nancy Seaver was jealous of the Ryans.

That was it for Tom Terrific, he wanted out and he got his way.  None of the participants, not Seaver, not Grant, not Young, not even Nancy, ever stopped to consider that their actions would leave some kid out in Queens very much … in the dark … eating cheese, and spitting watermelon seeds.

The owner is obviously wealthy, a multi-millionaire probably hundreds of times over. One thing I can say is that I don’t feel sorry for the guy.

Therefore, why do I feel sorry for another multi-millionaire named David Wright?

This year David will earn $16 million. If he plays every game this season, he will earn in one afternoon more than most of us earn in an entire year: $98,765. If he plays every single inning of every single game, David will make $10,974 per inning! But yet, I actually feel bad for the man.

David’s a stand-up guy. He’s been the face of the franchise for almost a decade now and will continue to be. He’s a clean cut athlete who stays out of trouble and is never caught up in scandalous headlines or PED rumors. He’s the type of ballplayer you can have your kids look up to. After a tough loss, it’s David who sits in front of his locker and patiently answers all the repetitive questions hurled at him from reporters. While most of his teammates head off to the showers and refuse to talk to the media, David does his job by helping the media do theirs.

He has all the similar traits of another much loved and revered Met by the name of Tom Seaver.

David Wright is only 30 and has already solidified his spot as the best all-around hitter in team history. Safe to say, he will break every team record by the time he leaves. He may also surpass Ed Kranepool as the longest tenured Met.

And this past winter, Sandy Alderson, to his credit, did lock up #5 for the long term. While I do applaud Alderson’s decision and thank David for his loyalty to the blue and orange, I still find myself feeling a bit sorry for him. I feel sorry that he drank Alderson’s Kool-Aid.

Athletes, like the rest of us, want to earn as much money as possible. Unlike Mike Hampton, who accepted an exorbitant salary from the Rockies and claimed his reason for going to Colorado was for the better school system, David is a class act.

The Mets GM tells us we are rebuilding. That it will take 3-5 years. By that time, David will be in his mid 30’s, his most productive years behind him. Yes, money is important, but to a professional athlete winning is more important than money. You cant buy a World Series ring.

Ty Cobb, the greatest hitter ever, never got to win a World Series. Ted Williams would have probably given up that .406 in 1941 for even the opportunity to appear in the Fall Classic.

While I applaud David’s loyalty (I never thought he’d stay), I wonder if he regrets his decision. Let’s be honest. No one is expecting a World Series flag flying over Citi Field anytime soon. Hell, no one’s even expecting us to be competitive in the foreseeable future.

I’m reminded of a little known pitcher named Ed Lynch. Lynch was mostly a spot-starter for the hapless Mets in the early 80’s. From 81-85, Lynch tossed 708 IP and posted a respectable 3.74 era. He was a workhorse who was 38-40 for a team that was far under .500. He was here as the Mets rebuilt. He was teammates with the likes of Lee Mazzilli, Hubie Brooks and John Pacella. Lynch was injured coming into the 1986 season and on June 30, after 6 years of service and just 4 months before the Mets won it all, Lynch was traded to the Cubs for the unforgettable Dave Liddell and Dave Lenderman. (who???) Ed Lynch missed all the fun.

Will this same fate meet David Wright? By the time the Mets are competitive, Wright may very well be expendable, his best days behind him.

I also fret about the boo birds. In spite of David’s stellar career and now being named Captain even he has not been without his critics. It’s been implied that he needs to be a leader on the field as well. I, too, would like to see him assume that leadership role, a la Keith Hernandez. But simply, some guys are not made that way. They don’t have that genetic makeup. And that’s not a slam on him. Cooperstown is filled with players who were not ‘team leaders.’ But yet, now that David is making $98,765 per game, will he be unfairly expected to assume that role?

His stats over the last 4 years (09-12)  are still respectable. But they do fall short of the numbers he put up the previous 4 seasons (05-08.)

As the Mets “rebuild,” one can’t help but wonder if David’s numbers will continue to suffer. It’s very likely there won’t be anyone at the top of the batting order he can bring home. And very little protection behind him. In 2012, David’s line was 307-21-93. Solid stats. But even if he manages to repeat those respectable numbers, are those the type of stats that, along with not being a team leader, warrant $16 million?

David is a much loved Met. No doubt about that. But as we will stumble our way through another season, as the dog days of summer drag on, as attendance drops and our big battle will be beating Miami to stay out of the cellar, I wonder if Wright may unfairly be booed. It seems like there’s always a fall guy, someone to blame, be it Willie Randolph, Aaron Heilman, coaches, even trainers.

So, to David Wright, I thank you. Thanks for being a stand-up guy. Thanks for remaining loyal to the blue and orange. Thanks for not being all about the money and giving Alderson a chance.

He may wind up like Cobb and never win a World Series. Or Williams and never get to play in one. But hey, think of the bright side. Maybe 20 years from now the #5 will be in a circle on the outfield wall alongside #41.

Maybe…

They could have also used Sadecki in 2007 or 2008, which is when I chose his name on the LoHud blog when John Delcos was running the site before Howard Megdal. Those two seasons will always be remembered for how we collapsed and needed to rely upon the likes of Brian Lawrence getting starts and Aaron Heilman and his cohorts blowing game after game in the bullpen.

Tonight Jeremy Hefner delivered a brilliant performance and needed the bullpen to preserve his shutout heading into the ninth. Unfortunately, things unravelled and his solid start went into the loss column.

This wasn’t the first time that Hefner was let down by his bullpen. Usually, the kid is done after five or six innings and he’s had to get 3-4 innings out of his pen. It was the perfect assignment for a true longman, but alas the Mets don’t have a true longman. In fact the Mets have not had one since Darren Oliver in 2006.

Now back to Ray. He was signed as a 19 year old bonus baby by the Cardinals in 1959 and won 20 games for them during their 1964 championship season.

In 1965, Sadecki’s record plummeted to 6–15 and his earned run average skyrocketed to 5.21. On May 8, 1966 he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Orlando Cepeda. In 1967 he went 12–6 with a career-best 2.78 ERA and he followed that up with another solid campaign 1968 when he posted a 2.91 ERA but with a 12–18 record, the 18 losses tying him with Claude Osteen for the the most losses in the majors.

After a 5–8 record as a spot starter in 1969, Ray Sadecki was again traded, this time to the New York Mets.

In 1973 Sadecki pitched for the Mets’ National League champions who, like the 1964 Cardinals before them, unexpectedly won the pennant, trailing by as many as nine games behind the Chicago Cubs and winning the National League East title on the final weekend. (Coincidentally, four years earlier the Mets, prior to unexpectedly winning the World Series, had also won the division title by jumping past the Cubs.)

Sadecki pitched as a “swingman” for the Amazins’, appearing both as a relief pitcher and spot starter in a rotation that boasted Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack and was instrumental in helping the Mets win the division.

He pitched four of the seven games of the World Series, which the Mets ultimately lost to the Oakland Athletics, and earned the save in Game Four.

In his 18-year career, Sadecki won 135 games against 131 losses, with a 3.78 ERA and 1,614 strikeouts in 2,500 innings pitched.

I always appreciated Sadecki’s dual role with the Mets and realized the value of having someone like that in the bullpen. It’s not a sexy or glamorous role, but in today’s game the best teams all have a solid longman.

All the good Mets teams of the past have all had had a guy Sadecki in the bullpen. Remember Pat Mahomes in 1999-2000? And let’s not forget Roger McDowell In the mid-eighties who seemingly did it all as long man, set up man and even closer.

The versatility of a reliever like Oliver, Mahomes, McDowell and Sadecki may seem unimportant to some in the grand scheme of things. But in this age of relief specialists and one at-bat relievers, a workhorse reliever who can do whatever the team needs, is an integral part of any good bullpen.

When logging onto the Mets’ website there was an advertisement plugging Harvey T-Shirts. And, all of this is for a guy who was starting just his 15^th major league game.

I am waiting for the Mets to put him on a banner outside the stadium, joining the likes of Keith Hernandez and David Wright; Ed Kranepool and Bud Harrelson; Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack.

Make no mistake, Harvey is a good Met, but not yet a great one. There is plenty of time for him to reach that distinction.

“I don’t get caught up in the marketing angle,’’ manager Terry Collins said when asked if this is too much, too soon, much the way it was last winter for the Knicks and Lin-sanity.

“I don’t thing he gets caught up in it, either. Let’s ride the wave. This guy is ready.’’

He might have been ready last night, but clearly was not sharp against the Los Angeles Dodgers despite the relaxed definition of a quality start. The no-decision indicates Harvey still has growing to do, but does not diminish what he’s already achieved.

“I didn’t like it,’’ Harvey said of his performance in Wednesday night’s 7-3, 10-inning victory. “Tonight was about winning, and we did that. … I have work to do.’’

That humility is why the Mets believe they have something special. Technically, it was a quality start – three runs given up in six innings – but Harvey knows he has to do better than 90 pitches. He knows that many pitches should get him to, if not through, the eighth inning.

History is full of powerful young arms that captured the imagination of not only their fan base, but also those across the nation. Look at Tom Seaver, Vida Blue, Mark Fydrych, Fernando Valenzuela, Ron Guidry, Dwight Gooden and Stephen Strasburg.

The Mets are banking on Harvey to join this prestigious list. Last night won’t remove him from consideration and won’t stop the rumblings of him possibly starting the All-Star Game at Citi Field in July.

The Mets are riding the Harvey wave, but there is an underlying fear is the attention could be too much this early. The expectations of Harvey increase with each start, of which last night’s was nationally telecast by ESPN.

It has been a long time since the Mets had a pitcher of Harvey’s marketability. Gooden perhaps nearly 30 years ago? Or Seaver? No other homegrown Met arm comes immediately to mind.

Gooden was such a long time ago, so you can’t blame the organization for being excited about having somebody this charismatic to promote. As much as Collins raves about Harvey’s demeanor and composure, a case can be made for going overboard. All this attention is a lot to absorb.

The Mets made sure to handle Harvey with kid gloves before bringing him up, so why push things now?

Let him concentrate on pitching first and not being a rock star.

Thoughts from Joe D.

He is a rock star!

But please no pies to his face from John Buck…

It’s now been over seven years since that promising Opening Day in 2006, which was only day one of a season that took the Mets just a big swing away from the National League Championship trophy, and a visit to the World Series. With the exception of a few R.A. Dickey masterpieces, and a special no-hitter, there hasn’t been much cheering in Flushing since that magical run in 2006.

The Metropolitans are a team that has always been known for its pitching, with ace Cy Young winners like Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden leading the pack, career years from David Cone, and the aforementioned Dickey, are just compliments to the team’s rich pitching history. All of those Mets aces brought with them to the stadium every fifth day, great stuff, a great baseball mind, and of course big crowds.

With an ace, comes a crowd. With Matt Harvey, come the masses. He is in a word, phenomenal, and perhaps even more important to Flushing than the wins he brings, is the spirit he brings to the ballpark.

Matt began his pro career as a first round draft pick for the Mets in 2010, but hasn’t always been looked at as the ace type he has recently shown to be. Just last season before he arrived in Queens to play with the big boys, scouts as well as others around the organization, and around the league, had doubted Matt’s ability to be a front end pitcher.

Unlike his early success this season, Matt, although he performed well, did not dazzle as he has thus far in 2013. He finished the 2012 season at 3-5, with a 2.73 ERA; impressive, yet not startling.

Any bit of doubt that had yet to evaporate going into this baseball season, was gone after Harvey’s very first start of the year. If the season were to end today, the Cy Young Award would most definitely be spending a second consecutive year in the Big Apple, and it would say Harvey all over it.

The good doctor, Mr. Dwight Gooden has already given the Mets 24 year old ace his blessing. Gooden tweeted to his 35,000+ followers on twitter Saturday, that the Mets now have “The Real Deal” in town, and Gooden likes what he sees.

Citi Field has a very different aroma on “The Real Deal” days, instead of Amazin’ fans chowing down on some delectable delights during innings, Mets fans are paying close attention to each and every time Harvey serves up one of his out pitch – that devastating high fastball.

The fans rise on each two strike count, and they get behind their, so far, 4-0 ace every time he needs that extra bit of adrenaline from the Citi Field faithful. He is certainly a special player to say the least, and there is absolutely no doubt from anyone in baseball that there is much more from Matt “The Real Deal” Harvey, yet to come.

* * * * * * * *

This Fan Shot was contributed by MMO reader, Michael Feldman. Follow him on Twitter at @michael4ny. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 16,000 Mets fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to GetMetsmerized@aol.com. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.

After all, who doesn’t want a hot-hitting catcher who calls a crisp game behind the plate? Most every team would and that includes the Mets, who, along with Buck exceeded early expectations.

It’s not as if Buck has gone from trade bait to indispensable, but he isn’t going anywhere any time soon. And, that has more to do than with d’Arnaud’s broken foot that will keep him out for two months. Buck is simply the Mets’ best offensive weapon and has been solid behind the plate, drawing raves fromMatt Harvey and Jon Niese.However, manager Terry Collins said it best: “John Buck seems to be in the middle of everything that’s good right now.’’

Buck homered in the Mets’ 2-0 victory over Washington Sunday, a comprehensive display of the fastest start of his career. There was the homer, giving him seven and a league-high 22 RBI, but also his defense and the game he called for Dillon Gee.

The Mets’ pride is their young pitchers, and Buck could be the same steading influence Jerry Grote once was to Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack.

Harvey has been the darling at 4-0 and a sub-1.00 ERA, swears by Buck. There’s no way the Mets break up that duo.

Harvey said he’s shaken off Buck maybe five or six times this year ins describing the same instinctual chemistry a quarterback would have with his best receiver.

“He already knows what’s coming,’’ Harvey said. “It’s really fun every time I take the mound and see him back there. It’s just positive energy. It’s more fuel.’’

It’s not luck or coincidence that has Buck putting down the correct fingers. It’s the culmination of hard work spent in the first nine years of his career. He keeps copious notes on his pitchers and opposing hitters, and they complement the game plan drawn up by pitching coach Dan Warthen.

On the day of the game Buck meets early with Warthen and the pitcher to go over the scouting reports and film. Later, he’ll meet with the pitcher privately. However, he talks to all the pitchers throughout the week, not just on the days they start. The communication is constantly flowing.

Harvey said Buck’s preparation is inspirational to the point where he’ll incorporate what he’s learned throughout his career.

“He knows what the hitters are going to do,’’ said Harvey. “The studying that he does and the video that he watches and the plan that he comes up with for each individual pitcher, it’s something that I’m learning still. And it’s awesome.’’

Buck and d’Arnaud’s lockers were side-by-side in spring training, and it wasn’t by accident, either.

“I like to pick his brain,’’ d’Arnaud said this spring. “He’s very easy to talk with and I’ve learned a lot from being around him.’’

Buck said in spring training he understood he was brought here to help d’Arnaud and that attitude hasn’t changed despite the latter’s injury. It’s not as if when he heard the news he moved out of his apartment and bought a house.

“My stance is still the same,’’ Buck said. “I truly feel if I do good, then he does good. I’ve been around too much to take positive thoughts out of something bad happening to someone else. … Until someone tells me otherwise, I’ll just keep going about my business.’’

Nobody will be telling Buck otherwise any time soon.

As for trading him, in an exclusive interview with Metsmerized Online, Sandy Alderson said very emphatically, “No. No, we won’t. We will not trade John Buck.”

Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

Life would have been better if no one said the phrase – ever — but it’s too late now. By the time Tim Leary first heard someone say it in his presence all he could do was go out and try to provide evidence to support the claims.

Leary, a UCLA graduate, overpowered hitters with a 96-mile per hour fastball, then buckled their knees with a biting curveball. In 1980, his first season of professional baseball in the New York Mets organization, he was unhittable. Leary was named Most Valuable Player of the Texas League. Honestly, that only made matters worse.

The occasional mention became an everyday occurrence. Scouts, fans, analysts were singing a chorus of praises that always ended in similar refrain: Leary was going to be “the next Tom Seaver.”

Mets manager Joe Torre and pitching coach Bob Gibson watched his 22-year old prospect blow away major league veterans in the Spring of 1981. Torre told the media Leary was “overpowering.” The Mets manager wasn’t alone in his praise. ”You look at him pitch and know that someday he’ll be a super baseball player,” added St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog.

”I like that son of a gun on the Mets. What’s his name, Leary?” Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda told New York Times reporter Joe Durso. “He can throw the hell out of the ball.”

Torre and Gibson knew they’d have to convince GM Frank Cashen to get Leary on the 25-man roster. Cashen was staunchly conservative in his approach to promoting young, developing arms.

By the end of Spring, Leary made it difficult for Cashen to say no. The Mets GM gave in. Leary was in. He earned it. He pitched his way North. Leary would join a 1981 rookie class that included Cal Ripken Jr., Fernando Valenzuela, Tim Raines, Tony Pena and Mets Mookie Wilson and Hubie Brooks.

It was a typical cold, windy 46-degree Sunday at Wrigley Field in Chicago. It was a day filled with hope for the Mets. Hopeful that rookie Tim Leary would be all the things he was promoted to be, hopeful the 22-year old would not feel overwhelmed by the pressure, hopeful that they were witnessing the beginning of “the next Seaver.”

Leary struck out Ivan DeJesus swinging and Joe Strain looking at a called third strike. Two batters, two strikeouts and now hope was floating in the Windy City. Bill Buckner grounded out and Mets fans were confused. Was this Tim Leary or Tom Seaver?

In the second inning, after Steve Henderson lined out and Bull Durham struck out, Cubs third baseman Ken Reitz worked walked. Leary threw a wild pitch and Reitz moved to second. But Leary retired Scot Thompson on a fly ball to end the inning.

Did you see it? What … the wild pitch?

No. Leary felt “a searing pain” in his elbow as he worked to Reitz. Something was wrong, really wrong. “I felt some pain in my arm on the way north,” remembered Leary.

When the Cubs came to bat in the third inning it was Pete Falcone, not Leary pitching. Four days later he was placed on the disabled list. He wouldn’t throw a major league pitch for another 30 months. Cashen never forgave himself – or Torre – for what happened wrote Peter Golenbeck in Amazin’.

”Since I was 8 years old, I pitched hundreds of innings and was never hurt,” remembered Leary. “Now, I was hurt. Any time you even sit in a whirlpool, you get criticized. And I was taking whirlpools twice a day for months. When I went home to Los Angeles, I’d walk the beach. I became a loner.”

The whispers about being “another Seaver” faded – fast. Injury trumps all in professional sports. Being a “head case” is a close second and Leary was branded with both. Once a player is tagged, the climb to the majors becomes Mount Everest.

“The pressure is on in New York,” former teammate Terry Leach told Peter Golenbeck, author of Amazin’. “Some people can’t handle the attention, because they expect so much of you. Or you think they expect so much of you, so you try to do more than you’re capable of, and that’s not good. And that’s what happened to Tim Leary in New York. He was young, it’s hard to cope. You don’t know what it’s like until you play big league ball in New York. That is the big leagues.”

Leary reported to Spring Training in 1982, hopeful. He spent the winter exercising, strengthening his elbow. Leary pitched one inning against the Philadelphia Phillies and he was “roughed up.”

”Every time I threw, it hurt,” said Leary. “I couldn’t even pitch. I went back home, and didn’t do much of anything except walk the beach and worry. That was the low point.”

In June 1983 Leary visited Dr. Daniel Alkatis, a nerve specialist in New York. In minutes Alkatis diagnosed Leary with a pinched nerve. “I’d been lying around for eight months, he found it in five minutes,” he said. “I still had a long way to go, but my mind was finally free.”

Sure the modest crowd that peppered the box seats on the final day of the 1983 season was a far cry from the dreams Leary once carried on his right shoulder, but No. 38 was pitching again. The “next Seaver” comparisons were gone, maybe for good, but he was back in uniform, on the mound, in the major leagues at Shea Stadium. And that was all that mattered now.

Leary pitched nine innings and beat the Montreal Expos. It was his first victory in the big leagues.

1984 was an ironic convergence of the past and then-present. Dwight Gooden, Tim Leary and Frank Cashen arrived in Florida for Spring Training.

Gooden was wearing Leary’s 1981 shoes, Leary was “damaged goods,” a reclamation project hoping for a spot on the roster and Cashen was waxing, bordering on hypocrisy, to the media about the lesson he learned.

”We’re starting to hear Gooden used as a standard of comparison for other young pitchers,” said the Mets GM. ”The scouts are starting to say that so-and- so has a Gooden-type fastball. That’s a form of subtle pressure in a way, but Gooden doesn’t understand what subtle pressure is, while Leary did.

”Gooden is very phlegmatic. He’s not burdened with a lot of hangups. I don’t want to say that Tim Leary was emotionally immature, but he was like Cassius in Shakespeare. You know, ‘Young Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much.’ That can be dangerous.”

With that in mind, let’s compare Harvey’s numbers through his first 14 starts with those of the aforementioned Seaver, Koosman and Gooden.  That threesome ranks 1-2-3 in most of the Mets’ all-time pitching categories, including wins, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts.

In addition to having lengthy and successful careers with the Mets, all three pitchers started off exceptionally well when they were neophytes, with Seaver and Gooden taking home the Rookie of the Year Award in 1967 and 1984, respectively, and Kooosman finishing second to future Hall of Famer Johnny Bench in 1968.

Does Matt Harvey compare favorably to the triumvirate of Seaver, Koosman and Gooden through 14 starts?  The answer is a resounding yes!

Note:  Jerry Koosman made six relief appearances for the Mets in 1967 before making his first start.  The numbers above do not include those relief appearances.  Only each pitcher’s first 14 starts as a Met were considered for the purposes of this comparison.

Although Matt Harvey pitched fewer innings in his first 14 starts than the other three pitchers, only Jerry Koosman earned more wins.  In addition, Harvey’s 102 strikeouts are far more than the whiffs recorded by Seaver and Koosman through their first 14 starts, and falls just five short of the total posted by Gooden.

Gooden has a slight edge on Harvey in strikeouts per nine innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio, but Harvey is the proud owner of the lowest ERA and lowest WHIP of the four starters.  Harvey has also held opposing hitters to the lowest batting average.

Where there’s smoke, there’s Matt Harvey’s fire.

It’s been nearly three decades since Dwight Gooden burst onto the major league scene with an assortment of pitches that caused many a hitter to walk back to the dugout shaking their heads in disgust, amazement and bewilderment.  It’s been even longer since Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman did the same.

All three hurlers pitched in a Met uniform for over a decade and no conversation about the top pitchers in franchise history can be complete without the names Seaver, Koosman and Gooden being mentioned.

Matt Harvey is only 24 years old and in a short period of time has established himself as the ace of the pitching staff.  It’s impossible to say whether he can maintain his incredible production over the course of the season and the rest of his career, but one thing’s for sure.  What Harvey has accomplished over the first 14 starts of his career has rarely been duplicated by a Mets pitcher.  However, some of the few Mets pitchers who did match Harvey’s phenomenal start went on to become team legends.

Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Dwight Gooden all have plaques in the Mets Hall of Fame to honor their achievements on the field as three of the best pitchers in the history of the franchise.  Matt Harvey wants to become the fourth face on the Mount Rushmore of Mets’ starting pitchers.  If his performance through his first 14 starts is a portent of things to come, it would be wise for the team to keep that mountain-carving chisel sharp.

Everytime I watch Matt Harvey pitch, those words come to mind and it’s not just me. It’s become the Mets Meme on Twitter every time Harvey pitches. It’s brought up mockingly when you’re watching the game with other fans. Who knows, maybe those words give Matt Harvey a little extra motivation to prove SNY’s Matthew Cerrone wrong when he wrote back on March 8, “My bet is Harvey never wins a Cy Young.”

I take a little added joy whenever Harvey goes out and delivers like he did last night in the Mets 7-1 victory over the Nationals. He was a warrior. It was a marquee matchup between two of baseball’s pitching elite; Matt Harvey vs Stephen Strasburg, and at least on this particular night, Harvey delivered the knockout blow. It was a roundhouse punch straight to the jaw of all those who doubted him.

Harvey is currently the best pitcher in the National League and perhaps the entire game. In just his first full season, he is 4-0 with a 0.93 ERA. He has allowed 10 hits in his four starts. The only Met pitchers with more strikeouts in their first 14 games than Harvey’s 102 Ks are Dwight Gooden and Nolan Ryan. Gooden, by the way, may just be Matt Harvey’s biggest fan. He watches every game, tweets about him before, during and after every start, and even tagged him “The Real Deal. He should know.

Gary Cohen said during the SNY broadcast, that last night at Citi Field was the best atmosphere at a Mets game he’s felt since Johan Santana‘s performance on September 27, 2008. That was the game that kept the Mets season alive for one more day, and was to me his greatest moment as a Met. Because of the significance of that game, it was greater still than his no-hitter.

Last night at Citi Field there was a vibe that I haven’t felt in many, many years. There were a ton of empty seats to be sure, but you wouldn’t know it by the fan’s noise level and the cheers that drowned out anything Gary, Keith and Ron had to say. There was some old-fashioned magic in the air and if you didn’t feel it then you may want to consider your inner Mets fandom.

Matt Harvey reminded me of those nights when Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden would electrify the crowd. Their mere presence gave us hope that the night would be magical and that we were all in store for a special treat. Those two names are iconic symbols whenever you talk about Mets pitching royalty. Those two have won their share of Cy Youngs.

As I wrote back on March 8 in response to the decree by SNY’s Blogfather, “Matt Harvey will have his Cy Youngs. One day he will be remembered along with Seaver and Gooden as the greatest pitchers ever to don a Met uniform.”

So, will Matt Harvey ever win a Cy Young? You bet your ass he will, and his first Cy Young may come as soon as this season. The first of many.

Last night’s duel over Stephen Strasburg had a very loud, clear, and convincing message attached to it. Last night, Matt Harvey put the National League and all of baseball on notice. Harvey is, as Doctor K plainly put it, The Real Deal. Put away any lingering doubts.

Its always interesting when you hear the opposing press rave about a player. Patrick Reusse, legendary Twin Cities sportswriter, and a few others peppered me with questions about Harvey as I was one of the first members of the Mets press to arrive last Saturday before Harvey’s start.

“How hard does he throw?” “How’s his command?  “How’s his breaking ball?” “Is he as good as he was last year?”

They were clearly intrigued by our phenomenal young starter.

“He reminds me of Tom Seaver,” I said, “Big righthander, late life up in the zone with his fastball. His strikeout rates are actually comparable, maybe a little better.”

Funny thing, don’t mention Tom Seaver to Patrick Reusse. While Tom Terrific is revered in Met circles like no one else, I quickly realized following a remarkably colorful string of expletives (that all but made me spit my coffee out laughing), this isn’t necessarily the case in other circles.

“Harvey seems like a nice kid,” I interjected. “Soft spoken, low key.”

Reusse raised his eyebrows and laughed, “He sure isn’t like that on the mound.”

I had to concur there, Mr. Harvey is all business when he takes the hill.

“I think he’s actually been better than he was last year, his command is better.” I said, as Mr. Reusse did a double take.

Harvey’s biggest goal in the off-season and during the spring, by his own admission, was to improve his command so that he could work deeper into games. So far so good.

His changeup and slider have been working well, he’s been able to mix his pitches and change speeds both with his fastball and his changeup  He’s worked his slider inside to left-handed batters, using it almost like a cut fastball with marvelous effectiveness (one notable exception), while spotting his fastball with pinpoint accuracy.

Harvey’s also been able to dial up his velocity in key spots late in games, causing you to overhear things like “reminds me of Justin Verlander that way.”

Harvey mentioned during the press briefing that his curveball needs some work, that it’s been up at times. Difficult to imagine what he’ll be like if he can get his breaking pitch working right.

Below are a collection of quotes by his teammates from the post game press conference following his last start:

Kevin Burkhardt: Asks Marlon Byrd, “After 13 starts does he wow you a little bit with the way he pitched tonight?”

Marlon Byrd: “He looks like he’s pitched 1,300. He’s one of those guys, certain guys, you know he’s bringing it to the table, that bulldog mentality.”

“To be young and throw 97 and be able to use his other pitches like he does. He hits his spots. You know he’s going to work hard and we’re going to work hard for him. It”s nice, it’s nice when he’s out there, you try to get a run or two and you know you have a chance to win.”

Burkhardt: Asks John Buck, “What has it been like catching his first 3 starts?”

Buck: “Yeah it”s a lot of fun, gives you a lot of weapons to work with. The most exciting part about it is right after, he wants to evaluate his starts, to say, ‘hey, what could we have done better here and here,’ he’s not satisfied. He knows there’s room to improve. He also liked to go over some of the good sequences as well , he’ definitely looking to get better.”

Burkhardt: ”When he asks you what can he do to get better, what do you tell him?”

Buck: “Usually it’s like a sequence I know, like a certain particular sequence, or a hitter, or when he’s had a long inning, being ready for the first hitter, little things like that, he pays attention to detail, those are the little things he wants to get better at and repeat better. That’s exciting for me.”

On whether Buck was worried about how the home run would affect his mindset:

Buck: “Yeah, no, that’s one of his pluses. To be able to stay focused. I don’t think we’ll ever see Harv back off. If anything I have to ask him to, especially in that situation. I think David went out there to see but he quickly turned away. I think he saw he (Harvey) was pretty locked in.”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

For Met fans, the excitement in the air every time Harvey starts is palpable. We find ourselves throwing out “not since … ” comments with every batter he blows away, with every overpowering high fastball.

You don’t want to miss a pitch, you hurry and grab a sandwich before his next inning. But what continues to impresses me like nothing else after these first three starts of his season is his demeanor, his understated intensity and his desire to improve.

This kid is the definition of “special.”

We’ve got a good one on our hands Mets fans.

At the start of the season, the Mets were desperate for starting pitching. R.A. Dickey was traded, which turned out good for the Mets since he is getting rocked in the American League. Johan Santana is out for the season with another injury. What else is new? So what would the Mets do now? Would the ace of their staff really be Jon Niese, who has won 37 big league games in his career or would somebody else step up?

Cue Matt Harvey.

At first, all the hype was unbearable. Tuning into WFAN 660 AM, the Mets fans were in their glory after his first start. “He’s the next Tom Seaver!” and “ By the end of the year, he will be the best pitcher in New York!” and “Cy Young contender!”

Really? After one start, come on. The media, along with the fans were building this kid up, so I had to check him out for myself.

I tuned into the game when he started against the Phillies. I figured against a good lineup, and pitching in a hitters ballpark like Citizens Bank Park, we will see what this kid is really made of. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this kid is legitimate.

With an impressive four pitch repertoire of a fastball, curveball, slider and changeup, he mowed down the Phillies hitters one by one. Recording an impressive nine strikeouts in seven innings while only surrendering three hits and one run, Harvey dominated the Phillies.

One particular pitch that opened my eyes to Harvey’s outstanding ability was a pitch he struck out Ryan Howard on. High heat. Even though Ryan Howard is a proven power hitter, Harvey was not afraid to challenge him with his fastball. In a full count, Harvey blew a 98 mph fastball straight by Howard towards the end of the game.

As Harvey was coming off the mound, it looked like he was saying something in his head, something like, “Yeah, get used to that because I’m here to stay.”

At 24 years of age, Matt Harvey, in his first three starts, has put together Cy Young numbers:

22.0 Innings, six hits, two earned runs, six walks, 25 strikeouts, 0.82 ERA, 0.55 WHIP

I don’t care if you’re a 10 year veteran or a rookie, those numbers are impressive.

But can he sustain this success throughout the season? From watching him pitch, I see no reason why he cannot continue to pitch at this level for this season and seasons to come. Barring his health of course; sorry for jinxing it Mets fans.

His mechanics are impeccable, he is not afraid to challenge hitters, his command is flawless and he certainly has the pitches to compliment all of his other intangibles. The mid 80s to low 90s tight slider, the 12-6 curve that drops off the table in an instant, the low 80s changeup that moves away from hitters and a ridiculous high 90s fastball that cuts in on and away from hitters puts this Harvey ahead of his class.

For now, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the Mets’ future. Harvey, with his Cy Young type stuff, could easily be an ace for this organization for a very long time. Let’s just hope he does not fall into the Mets jinx like Jason Bay, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana and many other Mets before him.

Go visit the GrandstandGazette.com for more great sports content.

This Fan Shot was contributed by MMO reader, Christian Fazzini. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 12 thousand Mets fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to GetMetsmerized@aol.com. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.

Jim Beauchamp (pronounced “Bee-chum”) was one of these players, and after kicking around the league with the Cardinals, the Astros (including some games as a Colt 45), the Braves, the Reds, the Astros again, and the Cardinals again, he wound up his career with the Mets, seeing a little action in the ’72 and ’73 seasons. A right handed hitter, he fulfilled the role of OF/1B, usually getting into between 35-50 games a year, primarily as a bat off the bench. He wore uniform No. 24 at the start of his Met career but swapped it for No. 5 when future Hall of Famer Willie Mays joined the team following a trade during the ’72 season.

He was a country boy, a French Okie, as he called himself, from the tiny town of Vinita, Oklahoma, a town that today boasts a population of around 6,000, parked in the northeast corner of the state about 30 miles from the Missouri border.  As a ballplayer, he pretty much embodied the term “journeyman,” as his peripatetic resume demonstrated. As a Met in 1972, he started 29 games, mostly at first base and chipped in with five home runs for the season. Two of those homers came on a special night.

August 21, 1972 was Beauchamp’s 33rd birthday, and with the Mets facing lefty Jerry Reuss of the Astros that night, Jim was given one of his rare starts, playing first base and batting seventh. The Astros were featuring a hot shot young center fielder in those days by the name of Cesar Cedeno, a 21 year old revelation with speed, power, and a great glove-sort of a right-handed Bryce Harper of his day.

Jon Matlack started for the Mets, looking for his 11th victory.  Matlack would end the season with 15 wins that year, and become the second Met to be named Rookie of the Year, joining Tom Seaver. On this night he pitched well, hurling a complete game with 8 strikeouts, but along the way had somewhat less success holding off Cedeno who homered in the 6th to tie the game at one-all, then doubled in the 8th after the Mets had taken the lead to knot the score again.

The 7th inning go-ahead run for the Mets had come via a long ball off the bat of Jim Beauchamp. Now, heading into the bottom of the 9th tied at 2 apiece, the Mets would face Jim “Sting” Ray, a right hander who was starting his second inning of relief. When Ray retired the first two batters, it looked as if the game would be heading to extra innings. But after John Milner coaxed a walk, Beauchamp swatted his second homerun of the night, deep into the left field bullpen.

Afterwards, on Kiner’s Korner, I remember him telling Ralph that he thought it would be nice if “just once, I could be the hero.” To my ears, his Oklahoma twang made the last word sound like “hee-row.” In my eyes he was. Happy Birthday, Jim.

Previous Mets Memorable Moments

Willie Comes Home

Rusty and the Rundown

Jesse and Roger in the Outfield

Harvey, 24, had his second consecutive scintillating start in a row on Monday evening, holding the Phillies to just one run and three hits over seven innings of work. The righthander struck out nine and now has 19 strikeouts in 14 innings.

The seventh overall pick in the 2010 draft is tearing down long-standing records for pitchers who are breaking into the majors and after 12 starts he even had the great Doctor K himself saying, “I am sitting here watching Matt Harvey… this kid is better than advertised … looking forward to watching him every 5th day.”

One thing I found impressive came from former major leaguer turned ESPN analyst Doug Glanville say, “He has four plus pitches – make that plus, plus pitches. And even if he only has three of them working he’s going to pitch a great game. Even if he has just two of the working, he’s going pitch a good game.”

Manager Terry Collins kind of backed that up after the game, “Obviously he wasn’t real sharp, but he was still very good,” Collins said. “The fact that the change-up has helped him. He threw some very good breaking balls today. He just wasn’t as sharp with the command of his fastball…It just tells you what the quality stuff can do and when you make a pitch you have to make, you get people out.”

Can Matt Harvey become the best pitcher the Mets have developed since – well since – Dwight Gooden?

I’m starting to believe that it’s certainly a possibility. He may be the best pitcher a Mets GM has drafted since Frank Cashen took selected Gooden fifth overall in 1981. That was six general managers and 32 years ago.

Is it too early to make such a claim? Maybe. But I’ll stick to my guns and wait ten years to see if I was right.

I want to kick that football, I can see Lucy holding it. She’s promised not to pull it away, I know she’s promised before and still pulled it away, but she seemed really honest this time. I’m Charlie Brown, and I really really want to kick that football. I can visualize it in my mind, the feel of the ball on my toe, watching it glide through the uprights. I know it can happen.

As a Met fan the past few years have ended up with me lying on my rear end and Lucy holding the football while all the other boys and girls laugh at me. Every year I tell myself, no not this time, I won’t fall for it, and every year the lure of the football just sitting there is just too great.

The Mets are coming off two opening series victories against the Padres and the Marlins and a win last night in Philly. I’m thrilled, that football is looking awfully tempting. I may even purchase more than one set of tickets to Citi Field for my trip to NY this summer. Maybe I’ll even buy one of those snazzy new blue jerseys. Is it real? Is Lucy being genuine this time? She sure looks like she is.

The Marlins are a bad team but they’re not as bad as I thought. They are more flawed and young than they are bad. They have lots of talent but it’s a smorgasbord of ill fit and youth, and, well, I guess that does translate to being bad. But this kid Fernandez looks like the real deal, and Ruggiano may be more than a late blooming flash in the pan. Stanton is Stanton. If their high upside starters (currently on the DL) come back and are effective they could be even more annoying than the Marlin announcers.

The Padres on the other hand are not a bad team. They’ve had a rash of injuries and they’re missing their prized catcher (whose name sounds like a monster enemy of the Geats), but they’ll rebound.

The Phillies were supposed to be revitalized. They look old and Halladay does not look like Halladay.

There have been some exhilarating moments so far. The cold night of Harvey’s first start … honestly I haven’t felt that way watching a Met starting pitcher in a very long time. Gooden? Seaver? Harvey was that good. You watch games and you usually feel a sense of apprehension, some tension after a walk and a bloop … things tend to unravel. But there was none of that with Harvey the other night against the Padres, they couldn’t touch him, and the Phillies didn’t do much better. His confidence is palpable, his execution impeccable. Matt Harvey reminds me of Tom Seaver … there I said it.

When I talk to Yankee fans, Harvey is my friend Harvey, the Bensonhurst Bomber, he is even bigger than I am, he terrifies them. He won’t like it when I tell him you said Hiroki Koruda would twist him into a pretzel.

There have been other positive developments. Neise has been ace like, Cowgill has given us shades of Lenny Dykstra, Buck and Byrd have been clutch professionals. Parnell is throwing a 92 mph change-up and Murphy’s bat is on fire. Still I have reservations. Lucy has pulled that damned football away every time. Duda has looked overwhelmed in the field and it’s not just that he’s slow, he misjudges balls and takes poor routs. Maybe he’ll improve, maybe he’ll hit enough so we can trade him. Maybe he can hit a ton so we can tolerate his defense, we’ll know soon enough.

The bullpen has gone all Jeckyl and Hyde on us in the early going. Burke, Rice and Hawkins have been up and down in their first couple of appearances. Maybe we can chalk it up to the jitters, maybe they’ll settle down. Atchison has been a “scary old man” as my son described him but he’s performed as promised. That crazy sliderish breaking ball that Burke throws on the outside corner against righthanders was filthy on Sunday. It sure would be great if we had more than Familia in reserve though, Feliciano, Carson, and Mejia might make for nice additions later in the season if there’s a need. Maybe we can groom one or two more effective relievers in the meantime, maybe the BP will actually hold water this season and maybe that will make all the difference in the world given that our starting pitching has been other-worldly.  Between Duda, Valdespin, and the farm maybe Sandy will even pull the trigger on a trade to shore things up in the event we start to struggle.

Last night’s win in Philly was great but it won’t get any easier with Lee going tonight. This three game set against a reloaded Philly lineup with Subway Sandwhich Howard and Chased Mutley back in the mix is big. We played these guys tough last year, hopefully it will carry over. They don’t scare me like they used to. I like this Met team, there’s a different feel to them, they don’t seem easily intimidated, and they aren’t nearly as “nice” as previous incarnations. John Buck in particular seems to have given this squad something of a backbone behind the plate, my eyebrows elevated noticeably the other evening when Buck had a discussion with Valdespin after Jordanny got caught taking too big a lead off first. He’s no Thole that’s for sure.

I think I’m going to go for it, I’m going to kick that football dammit … here I go …

TUG McGRAW: Coined one of the best slogans ever.

As far as team slogans go, the 1973 Mets’ rallying cry “Ya Gotta Believe’’ may not rank with Knute Rockne’s “Win one for the Gipper,’’ but it stood the test of time, lasting far longer than Reingold’s “Ten Minute Head.’’

Had it been a movie, the late and great Roger Ebert would have given it a thumbs down for it’s corniness.

Going into the season, the 1973 team was arguably more talented than the 1969 Miracle Mets, with the additions of Rusty Staub, Jon Matlack, John Milner and Felix Millan. This was a team to be feared and sprinted out of the gate at 4-0, and was in first place by late April. However, overcome by injuries, the Mets nose-dived into the cellar, 7 ½ games behind by July 26. They dropped to 12 games below .500 with 44 games to play on August 16.

Even so, they were still within shouting distance in the mediocre National League East. It would be tough, Mets Chairman of the Board M. Donald Grant thought, but there were all those tickets to home games in September that needed to be sold.

MCGRAW: You win with heart, too.

Grant addressed the team and told them not to quit because there was time to turn things around. After all, he had had recent history to fall back on as the 1969 team overcame an eight-game August deficit to the Cubs.

That’s when closer Tug McGraw stood up and shouted, “that’s right, we can do it, Ya gotta believe.’’ It was a moment of “was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor,’’ exuberance that stuck with those Mets.

The Mets, Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs tripped over each other for much of September, but Yogi Berra’s team was the most consistent, and had to be considering the ground it had to make up.

The Mets won 24 of 35 games to make up those 12 games and move into first place on Sept. 21, with a 10-2 rout of Pittsburgh behind Tom Seaver.

It was a fragile lead as only 2 ½ games separated them from fifth-place Chicago.

“We’ve been hot,’’ Berra said at the time. “But I have to say it’s still wide open.’’

The Mets swept a two-game series with St. Louis and split a two-game series with Montreal before heading into Wrigley Field that final weekend with a one-game lead. On Friday the Mets were rained out, but Montreal beat Pittsburgh. The scenario repeated itself on Saturday.

By now, St. Louis leapfrogged Pittsburgh and trailed by 1½ games going into Sunday. The Mets split a double-header to go to 81-79 while the Cardinals were 81-81.

That set up another double-header for Monday with the Mets needing a split to win the division title, which Seaver gave them by winning the first game.

This might have been the Mets’ grittiest team, and it’s soundtrack being McGraw screaming “Ya Gotta Believe,’’ as he slapped his glove on his thigh.

Although McGraw repeated the slogan with the 1980 Phillies, and Philadelphia fans tried to resurrect it several years ago, it didn’t have the same impact as it did when it woke up New York, the team and the city, during the Summer of 1973.

There is a conspiracy theory everywhere you look. I read one suggesting the Mets made David Wright captain to divert attention away from the field, where they are projected to be bad. Very bad.

Smokescreens like that never work. Besides, Mets fans are like children and dogs in a way, after awhile, they know when they’re getting duped.C’mon. Are you serious? How long do you think that will last? With virtually no hope given to the Mets this year, they’ll be coming out to see Wright and the young players such as Matt Harvey, Ike Davis, Travis d’Arnaud and Zack Wheeler. The last two you’ll probably see sometime in June.

Besides, if taking the fan’s attention away from the team is the goal, they should have done this three years ago as the attendance at Citi Field has consistently dwindled.

Wright is simply the best player the Mets have, and arguably the best player – outside of Tom Seaver – they ever produced. And best, I mean both on and off the field.

As Major League Baseball goes after Ryan Braun and others in a witch hunt over PED’s, Wright has publicly stood up against drug users. A long time ago, when I asked Derek Jeter about steroids, he said: “I don’t use them, so it’s none of my business.”

Guess again. It is every player’s business for their sport to be clean and Wright, whether or not it comes from his father who is in law enforcement, has always stood for that goal. He should be commended for that alone.

I know some don’t feel Wright is clutch enough, but that’s nonsense. Baseball is about failing three out every ten at-bats just to be good, and Wright is the best the Mets have in that regard. Who else would you rather see at the plate in the ninth inning of a close game?

Jeff Wilpon said the appointment was for all Wright has done, and will do, for the organization in the future. The Mets have been awful on the field since 2008, and even worse off it with the Ponzi scandal, numerous bad signings and public relations fiascos. With all those around him losing their heads, Wright kept his, to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling.

When it was clear the Mets were about to sack Willie Randolph, Wright spoke out for his manager – and against management – because it was the right thing to do. He blamed himself and the players, not the manager whom management had spied on with Tony Bernazard.

A leader sometimes deals with uncomfortable things, and yes, Wright spoke against Lastings Milledge coming in late. He downplays it now, but it had to be done. Players often take their lead from other players, and when somebody doesn’t hustle, Wright lets him know it in a low-key, yet effective manner.

He doesn’t get in their faces, just their minds. And, that’s what leaders, and captains, do.