At a time when he is being judged on each and every start for what his immediate future may bring, Matt Harvey took the biggest step thus far in righting his season.
The Harvey we had all come to love, showed signs of returning in Monday’s 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. He pitched seven scoreless innings in his longest start of the season. Harvey allowed just two hits, while walking one and striking out six. He improved his record to 4-7 on the season while lowering his ERA to 5.37 from 6.08.
“I think this is a first step,” Harvey said. “Obviously what I did here today isn’t going to mean anything if I don’t continue it the next time I pitch and stay with what I’ve been working on. It’s a work in progress. I’m just happy I was able to go out there and feel comfortable in my mechanics and get the job done.” (Mets.com)
Harvey said all of the right things after the game, knowing that this is just the beginning of getting back to being the dominant pitcher he once was. He showed glimpses of greatness yet again on Monday, finding his velocity and having great movement on his ball. Harvey’s fastball averaged a season-high 95.5 MPH as one of his most dominant pitches seemed to have been back in full force Monday.
“I felt a lot of emotions,” Harvey said. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to go out there and hold them from scoring a ton of runs. The idea is to do everything you can to help the team and I felt like I wasn’t doing that very well. Today, to go out there in a one-run ballgame like that and be able to put up zeros, was very exciting for me.”
Harvey’s biggest test came in his final inning as the White Sox had runners on second and third with one out. Todd Frazier was looming at the plate. Matt though unlike previous outings was able to make the necessary pitches to escape free of any damage. He was able to get Frazier to pop-up into foul territory followed by a J.B. Shuck groundout to finish the inning. Manager, Terry Collins knows this was a big step for Harvey but to take it in stride.
“It’s one thing if you throw three good ones in a row and then throw a clunker. That goes with the territory,” Collins said. “I think today is one big step. Look, he feels good about it. He feels good about the way he threw the ball. Now we’ve just got to build on it and stay as positive as we can.”
It was Collins who stated that in the not too distant future, Mets fans would again be chanting Harvey’s name. That time came on Memorial Day. Mets fans helped to will Harvey through the best start of his season, chanting his name just as they did through the 2015 playoffs. It was great job by a great fanbase to get behind their beleaguered star. Harvey looks to be close to getting back to the pitcher we have all come to love since 2012, hopefully he can take yet another step forward in his next start.
