Tonight, the New York Mets will begin a series with the Philadelphia Phillies in Flushing.
On the mound for the home team will be one Matt Harvey, formerly known throughout the baseball world as The Dark Knight of Gotham.
Harvey will need to do what Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz were unable to this spring: throw with courage and conviction.
According to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, these are two characteristics that manager Mickey Callaway and pitching coach Dave Eiland find the key to success to be.
As manager Mickey Callaway said in the spring, the Mets don’t need him to be the Dark Knight. They just need him to be Matt Harvey.
“He was labeled the Dark Knight,” Callaway said. “He might never be the Dark Knight again, but the Mets don’t need him to be that. His teammates in there don’t need him to be the Dark Knight and the guy he used to be. We need the best version of who Matt is today, and that version is going to be good enough.
“We’re going to create a culture here that breeds that and lets Matt Harvey just be himself and not think he needs to be a superhero.”
Despite perhaps not having superstar status anymore, Callaway and Eiland believe Harvey turned a corner this spring and is ready to perform.
It goes beyond just skill, but rather going out there and believing.
We’ve been down the road of talking about Harvey’s past, his injuries, and his continued efforts to regain his place among the game’s elite hurlers, but this is a new year.
Only 29-years-old and finally with a clean bill of health, Harvey surely looks to find sure footing in what should be an uphill battle.
As an entire body-of-work, setting aside all of the down-and-recovery time, Harvey’s career looks awfully run-of-the-mill, with a 3.51 earned-run average over 100 career starts. Though, his 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings compared to 2.4 walks per nine signify that there’s more to this story, as there most certainly is.
Yes, his first three, injury-free seasons were legendary and he narrowly missed reaching a zenith in Mets lore that few have ever even come close to. And his last two years, as mentally and physically trying they must have been both on and off the mound, were poor to say the least.
As we’ve all seen in the past, when Harvey is on the mound looking glum, unsure of himself, and frustrated, usually it means he’s having a tough day. But, on the other hand, when he’s pitching well, you can almost feel his confidence pushing its way through whatever screen you may be watching the game on.
After a strong spring, and going into his walk year, it begins now for Matt Harvey.
The team doesn’t need him to be a Jacob deGrom or Noah Syndergaard. They need him to go out every fifth day and put it all on the line, which he is prepared to do.
“Wherever they want me to throw, I am ready to go, as we all are, and we are looking forward to a successful season,” Harvey said.
Watching Matt Harvey this spring, seeing him build his confidence back up, pitch-by-pitch in some cases gave all of us high hopes for this season. Hopefully, we’ll see him begin his ascent back to the top of the heap this season.
With other starters falling by the wayside, Harvey has a chance to be the No. 3 on this team. But it will all be about overcoming the mental hurdles.
Callaway and Eiland believe in him, hopefully, he does too. He’s got a lot riding on it in a pivotal season. But for now, there are games to play in a Mets uniform.
One last hurrah, Matt Harvey. Here we go!
