In the second playoff start of his career, Matt Harvey was outstanding. He struck out nine batters in 7.2 innings while allowing just two runs and four hits.
With the win yesterday, he became the third pitcher in franchise history to win the first two games of his Mets’ playoff career. Tom Glavine did so in 2006, and Jacob deGrom became the second earlier this postseason.
Even though he won in his last outing, Harvey was still disappointed with how he performed against the Dodgers. He expected better of himself, and couldn’t wait to get on the mound again in Game 1 of the NLCS.
“No, I think after the first go around I definitely wasn’t happy. Obviously we won, and that was the most important thing. But I think I kind of said in the press conference yesterday that I really wanted to be back out there as much as I possibly could, and getting the ball the first game, I really wanted to start things off the right way and get us rolling. Fortunately enough I had things working pretty well, and we were able to do that.”
Harvey certainly set the tone early as he retired the first 12 batters he faced. He looked as dominating as ever, and kept the dangerous Cubs lineup off balance all night.
After all the controversy surrounding him this season, this was exactly the kind of outing he needed to redeem himself to the fans, who chanted his name as he left the field. He pitched deep into the game, and proved he could be relied on as an elite postseason starter.
“Oh, it was great. I think after everything that’s happened, I think the biggest thing was really staying focused on what I had to do tonight. Regardless of what’s happened, my job was to go out and give us quality innings and keep the damage down and really, like I said, get us starting off right.”
Harvey will be ready to go for his next start against the Cubs, and will look to overpower them once again. The Mets got a scare after he got hit in the arm by a line drive, but he did not suffer an injury and turned out to be okay.
“It’s a little bit swollen right now, but the training staff will take care of that and we’ll be all set.”
