I just now caught the following tweet from Adam Rubin:
ESPN Stats & Info: Most Starts Allowing 1 or Fewer Runs 2013:
Matt Harvey 14
Felix Hernandez 13
Clayton Kershaw 12
Patrick Corbin 12— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) August 8, 2013
It was a memorable Wednesday night for Matt Harvey and after all he has done already in his amazing start to his career, it was almost hard to fathom that he had not yet tossed a shutout or even a complete game. He can now add both of those to his growing list of accolades.
“It feels awesome. It was something I wanted to do all year,” Harvey said after the Mets’ 5-0 win. “The biggest thing is going out and trying to eat up innings. Fortunately enough I was able to do that.”
With apologies to Dwight Gooden, what’s next for what might end up being the greatest pitcher the Mets have ever drafted? Is a no-hitter the next thing on his to-do list? After all, he’s already carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning twice this season… Maybe those were just tune-ups for the magic that’s yet to come. And dont forget the nine-inning one-hitter against the White Sox in May…Unbelievable…
For those of you who saw the six strikeouts and were perplexed some what, put your mind at ease. Pitching to contact was the pre-game plan all along and it was pure genius.
Harvey’s fastball had averaged 96.4 mph in his previous start in Miami, and after he ran out of gas later in the game, both Terry Collins and Dan Warthen took the righthander aside and told him he didn’t have to hurl 98 mph all the time and to conserve energy so he could pitch deeper into games.
The payoff for that sage advice was a powerful performance that left enough gas in Harvey’s tank to go all the way and toss the complete game shutout with just 106 pitches.
Last night, Harvey took another step in his evolution, and it was a big one.
