After two starts in the 2016 season, Matt Harvey stands at 0-2 with a 4.63 ERA. Kevin Kernan of the NY Post has begun to wonder if it is time to worry about Matt Harvey. The short answer is NO.
In yesterday’s start against the Philadelphia Phillies, Harvey pitched six innings while allowing three runs on six hits. He walked two batters, while striking out three in what was not the most dominant of starts for the Dark Knight. To be fair, Harvey was cruising until that critical sixth inning, having retired ten batters in a row.
Harvey has struck out just five batters over his first two starts of the season. Manager, Terry Collins states that Dan Warthen is studying footage to see what could be wrong with his stud pitcher.
“What he’s made is some bad pitches,’’ Collins said. “The pitch to Herrera was a slider right in the middle.’’
The slider was supposed to be Harvey’s new out pitch – a new and improved version he recently added to his arsenal. It was a pitch he barely used last year, but was drawing rave reviews and working effectively during spring training. Unfortunately, so far that success hasn’t yet carried over into the regular season and as Collins pointed out Harvey has not yet been able to fool too many opposing batters.
“He was sailing along,’’ Collins said. “The same thing happened in Kansas City. He got off to a good start and all of a sudden he hit a wall. I don’t know if it’s pitch count or what but we are not giving him much room for error.”
Meanwhile at the other end of the spectrum, he is getting no run support from his team. The Mets have yet to score a run for him in either of his two starts, a feeling Harvey is all too familiar with it would seem.
“We aren’t scoring, you can’t make a mistake and then you hang a pitch and damage is done and you kind of get down on yourself a little bit,’’ Collins said. “He’s not going to throw every pitch in a perfect spot.’’
In other words, Harvey has had to pitch with no margin for error which does place added pressure on any pitcher.
Harvey looked back on what took him out of the game on Saturday, a two-run shot off the bat of Freddy Galvis. Harvey had thrown a slider that stayed flat and caught too much of the plate. Galvis took it out of the park.
“I threw one to [Freddy] Galvis to get a strikeout. Once I got to two strikes I tried to do the same thing, and it kind of just ran into his bat,’’ Harvey said.
Harvey understands he can’t worry about the lack of offense he receives. It’s his job to pitch, the rest will come about.
“I’m going out there and making pitches, making bad pitches,’’ Harvey said, “so it’s up to me and the starters to put up as many zeroes as we can.’’
I get what Kevin Kernan is trying to say, but it is way too early to start worrying about Harvey. He is a proven commodity that has pitched at an elite level throughout his major league career. He deserves the benefit of the doubt and these last two starts are just a hiccup for the Met right-hander. It came down to one bad pitch. Manager Terry Collins says it best when describing the situation.
“I realize there is always panic and drama here,” Collins said, “that probably goes with the territory, but he is going to be fine.’’
