Given where he was a year ago, perhaps the Washington Nationals’ star can serve as a positive example for struggling Matt Harvey of the New York Mets.
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Tigers 5, Phillies 4: Two homers for Miguel Cabrera who apparently did not feel any bad effects from that bruised knee on Sunday. Mets Manager Terry Collins didn’t move from his spot in the dugout.
“I think it gave him some confidence to know the fastball is still there”, Collins said, trying to find a silver lining.
On Wednesday, Matz reminded everyone just how far Harvey still has to go. But after getting lit up by the Nationals for the second outing in a row on Tuesday, it marked the first time that Harvey didn’t speak because of a poor performance.
Matz’s profile doesn’t match Harvey’s, but in some ways he has been handled more carefully this season.
Collins suggested that having Harvey throw a 65-pitch simulated game between starts at Citi Field on Saturday to try to remedy his flaws might have cost him fatigue-wise in the middle innings.
Nunez hit the second pitch of the game from Royals starter Dillon Gee over the fence in left field for his fourth home run of the season. At one point, he was the weakest part of a pennant winner’s obvious strength.
This announcement comes one day after Harvey gave up five runs in five innings against the rival Washington Nationals. Queens held its breath. I guess the pessimist in me still thinks he has a ways to go because that ball is caught in CitiField. “… It’s a long season”. “Don’t be fooled. He’s making a name for himself in this league, and it’s going to get around fast”.
MRI results showed nothing, and he returned to the rotation. He has yielded 16 earned runs over his past three outings.
As for Harvey, he looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, and yet the Mets insist on planting him there, over and over, expecting a better outcome when there doesn’t seem to be a legitimate reason to.
As catcher Kevin Plawecki said, “He’s a competitor and wants to do well and hasn’t really gone through a tough stretch like this before”.
Clint Robinson laced a two-out, pinch-hit single.
This afternoon, Matz was dominant against the Nats’ lineup. “And for your manager to have faith in you to leave you out to face arguably the greatest hitter in the game right now, it’s pretty awesome”. Matz fell behind 2-0 before coaxing a routine ground ball out of Harper with a 93 miles per hour sinker for the final out of the inning. He is absolutely brilliant and I’ll take that even with some questionable plays in the outfield. The count was 2-0. After a 10-minute meeting that included assistant general manager John Ricco and pitching coach Dan Warthen, the Mets announced their decision.
“He was the best in baseball in 2013”, Collins said.
From there, he stuck with his sinker away from Harper, and Harper took one for a strike. It was a bad game all around for folks near home plate: umpire Jeff Nelson left the game after some debris hit him in the eye during a play at home. That possibility, for all Harper’s struggles, loomed over each pitch in the at-bat.
Said Collins: “This guy is too big a piece to write him off, to flip him in the bullpen to where you’ve got to pick and choose when you might use him”.
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David Wright gave Matz an early lead to work with.
