Things are going so poorly for Matt Harvey right now that the New York Mets will consider skipping the ace’s next scheduled start.
Harvey’s season went from poor to 1962 Mets-level bad after he was bombed in a career-worst outing Thursday night. Harvey was tagged for a career-high nine runs over a career-low 2.2 innings in the Mets’ 9-1 loss to the Nationals. He was booed by the home crowd, and now he may not even have a chance to make up for the bad outing against the Nats next week.
“We’re going to take a look — is that best for him, is that best for us?” Terry Collins said of Harvey after the game. “We’re not going to commit to anything at this time. But I will tell you, as I sit here today, I’d certainly trust him. I certainly believe in him.”
If the Mets keep the rotation the same, Harvey would be scheduled to start on Tuesday against Washington again.
After giving up five runs on 11 hits over 5.2 innings on Friday and the nine runs on Thursday, Harvey’s ERA spiked from 4.50 to 5.77. Not everything has been terrible for him this season, though. He still has allowed three-or-fewer runs in six of his nine starts, which is not on-par with his typical spectacular self, but still allows for winnable games.
Collins, the team’s manager, thinks Harvey has not been the same since his urinary tract infection, which led to several headlines during spring training. He thinks the team will examine the pitcher medically to see if anything is wrong. Collins also believes that Harvey may be suffering the effects of throwing 216 innings last season, a record amount for a pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery. For now, Harvey says he will continue to look for answers.
