A quick update and some thoughts…
Speaking to reporters at a Military Monday event this afternoon, Mets GM Sandy Alderson said that Matt Harvey is committed to pitching whenever they ask him to, but that it’s the team that has to figure out the best way to use him.
“If we ask him to do something, he’ll do it,” Alderson said. “At this point, it’s not about Matt not wanting to do this or not wanting to do that, it’s a question of what we think is appropriate. I think it’s unfair to put all of this or any of this, frankly, on him at this point.” (Mike Vorkunov, NJ.com)
“He’s stated that he was prepared to do whatever we ask him to do and to this point that’s what he’s done and we expect that to continue,” Alderson said.
“I think his point of view is that he will pitch when he’s asked to pitch. That makes it incumbent on us to be reasonable and realistic on the demands we place on him. Which I think we’ve been since the beginning of the year.”
Additionally, one thing that has been buried by the narrative the media wants to keep running today is the fact that both Terry Collins and Matt Harvey alluded to the fact that while pulling him after five innings was pre-planned, that if it were the postseason, Harvey would have remained in the games.
“More than anything, I want to be out there,” Harvey said. “I want to be out there more than anything. I know where I want to be, and that’s on a mound, pitching for the Mets.”
Alderson also confirmed what Collin said last night, which is that Harvey could pitch four innings or five innings or six innings in his next start. The decision has yet to be made, but it is the Mets’ decision – just like on Sunday – and Harvey is fine with whatever they ask him to do.
And that’s the idea my friends, making sure that Harvey, Syndergaard and deGrom can pitch deeper into games during the playoffs. That’s the whole point!
The fact of the matter is that the ball was dropped by Boras, Alderson and the doctors and that’s because none of them expected the Mets to be in the postseason in February when they hatched their plan. Even Sandy admitted as much last week.
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Let me start by saying that last night was pretty fucking ugly as far as watching Mets games go this season. Off the top of my head I can’t think of anything much worse this season than what we witnessed on Sunday. Okay, maybe that Jeurys Familia meltdown before the trade deadline.
One moment we had our ace Matt Harvey working on a one-hit shutout with seven strikeouts through five innings, and then when he was removed from the game as had been planned for over a week, all freaking hell broke loose. Before you could bat an eyelash, the New York Yankees scored five runs in the sixth inning on their way to an 11-2 win in the Subway Series finale at Citi Field.
Big time, fucking bummer… But if you think I’m going to break bread and wallow with the likes of Bob Raissman, Joel Sherman, Mike Puma and Craig Carton this morning, you must have me mixed up with that other Mets blogger. If you want to bump uglies with that cast of characters, be my guest, but leave me out of it.
Also, please drop me off at the next stop if today is going to be a non-stop hatefest on the Mets and an all-out indictment on Matt Harvey.
Harvey didn’t commit all those errors last night that made us look like ass hats. And Harvey didn’t allow 11 runs on eight hits and seven walks in four kerosene-fueled innings of so-called relief.
If you were surprised to see Harvey pulled after five innings in the middle of a shutout, then you really haven’t been following the Mets as closely as you should have. Was I glad to see Harvey walk off that mound? Of course not, but that was the freaking plan. The plan is to curtail his innings so that he could go full throttle in the playoffs.
Losing to the Yankees blows, I get that. But this wasn’t a playoff game or a game against the Washington Nationals, and in the grand scheme of things the Mets simply lost two of three with 13 games left to play and a six game lead. Would you rather be the fucking Nats right now? Yeah, I didn’t think so…
The most important thing I observed last night, was that Matt Harvey is primed and ready to dominate in the playoffs for the New York Mets. He was scintillating against the Yankees who were impotent to do anything against him. His fastball was right up at 98 mph and the late action on it was scary good.
“I don’t give a shit who’s sitting in this chair, Matt Harvey is a you guy you turn to,” manager Terry Collins said after the game in a full-throttle defense of his right-hander. “This kid is still a tremendous competitor.”
As Collins pointed out to a room full of beat writers looking for blood, Matt Harvey isn’t the only pitcher who is being limited.
“It’s hard,” Collins said. “We’ve waited five years since I’ve been here to be in this situation, and now we’ve got our No. 1 pitcher, we have to watch what he does; our No. 2 pitcher (Jacob deGrom) we’re skipping this week; our No. 3 pitcher (Noah Syndergaard) we just skipped, all in a pennant race.
These next two weeks is not about pitching Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard until their arms wither and die. It’s about getting them ready for the playoffs. If you can’t understand that then you’re not thinking about the big picture and you’re to engrossed in shit that doesn’t matter.
And let me address the unfaithful who say, “we gotta get there first.”
The Mets are six games up and now play 10 games against three of the worst teams in the majors in the Braves, Reds and Phillies.
If that scares you then you know nothing about the guys in that Mets clubhouse who have shown themselves to be the most resilient team in the game right now. A team that has battled hard all season long and deserves your respect.
Either you believe in this Mets team or you don’t. And if you don’t, then that tells me that you believe in the Washington Nationals. Have fun with that.
All the Mets have to do is go into the Nats series with a 3.5 game lead and it’s game over, pop the champagne, onto the NLDS… That’s where my head’s at..
So yeah, last night sucked… But it was one tough game in a season with 162 of them and my team – the team I believe in – is in first place atop the National League East with less than two weeks to go.
There are 13 games left and any combination of Mets wins and Nationals losses totaling eight and the Mets clinch. Clinch… That’s the only “C” word I’m thinking about. Let’s Go Mets!
