Last night, former Mets’ righthander Dwight Gooden tossed out the idea of coming up with a nickname for current great righthander Matt Harvey. Doctor K suggested we go with Matt “The Real Deal” Harvey.
As is usually the case when I get inspired, I immediately took to Photoshop and went straight to work and this is what I came up with.
Hey Matt… This one’s for you….
MATT–TASTIC!
Matt Harvey hurled a career-high 8.0 innings yesterday and did not allow a hit until Justin Morneau slugged a solo home run with two outs in the seventh inning. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Harvey is the first pitcher in modern major league history (since 1900) to win each of his first three starts of a season, with at least 25 strikeouts and six or fewer hits allowed over those three games.
Harvey now has 95 strikeouts through his first 13 career starts, the third-most in team history after 13 games. He trails only Nolan Ryan (103) and Dwight Gooden (96). Harvey’s 25 strikeouts this season are tied for the fourth-most in the majors.
Additionally, Harvey became only the third pitcher since the end of World War II to open a season with three straight starts of seven-plus innings and three or fewer hits allowed, joining Nolan Ryan and Jim Rooker as the only other pitchers to perform that feat, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
WOO HOO! On Saturday, MMO smashed it’s all time single day record for unique visitors and hits! Exactly 20,345 different users visited our site yesterday and we had over 1.2 million hits. Of course, our Sandy Alderson interview being on ESPN, FOX Sports, Yahoo Sports, MetsBlog and even a few mentions on WFAN, sure didn’t hurt! Whatever it takes… Thanks everyone!
