After not pitching for nearly 18 months following Tommy John surgery, it’s safe to say that Matt Harvey absolutely killed it in the first half of the 2015 season.
Despite a four start plan in which he dealt with a dead arm, you have to agree that what Harvey accomplished in this first half was pretty remarkable and bodes well for a return to dominance in the second half in moving forward.
In his final start before the All Star break, Harvey got tagged for a two-run homer in the first inning, but then shut the Diamondbacks down the rest of the way. In dominating fashion, he held the D’Backs to just three harmless hits over the next six innings and finished with a flourish striking out nine.
Harvey also hit a two run homer, the first of his major-league career, becoming the second Mets pitcher in franchise history to hit a deficit-beating homerun since Carl Wiley did it at the Polo Grounds in 1963.
“I really wanted to do everything I could to keep the team within striking distance. When you look up at the scoreboard and it’s 2-0 and you only faced two batters, the last thing you want to do is keep that rolling.”
“I really just had to buckle down and try to pound the zone as much as possible. I wasn’t happy about the first two batters, so at that point I needed to put up zeroes. Fortunately enough I was able to do that.” (ESPN New York)
Harvey enters the break with an 8-6 record and boasts a 3.07 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, while striking out 109 batters and walking just 23 in 111.2 innings pitched.
He has a 1.71 ERA (six earned runs/31.2 innings) in his last five starts dating to June 16.
“He hates to lose,” Terry Collins said. “As Matt continues to get stronger and continues to go through the post-surgery thing, he’s going to be as good as he ever was, because he’s got the same makeup as ever.”
If there’s any concern for now, it’s that Harvey is on pace to throw at least 200 innings, which is more than the 180 inning limit the team set at the start of the season.
I assume that the Mets may have him skip a start in the second half or maybe limit him to 80-85 pitches for a few starts. But all in all, you have to consider Harvey’s first half a considerable success.
