“It’s good to get this one out of the way and now we have the big boy tomorrow,” Terry Collins told reporters yesterday afternoon.
That big boy is Matt Harvey, who is making his first start at Citi Field since August 24, 2013 against the Tigers. That was 598 days ago.
But as magnificent as Harvey was in his 2015 debut last Thursday against the Nationals, Harvey clearly didn’t have his best stuff. He struggled early with his fastball command which led to some efficiency problems over the first three innings.
Harvey realized this on Thursday, and is aiming to improve upon it in his start tonight against the Phillies.
“For me, 90 pitches through six innings is not good enough,” Harvey told reporters on Monday morning. “If I’m throwing 90 pitches, I’d like to get at least into the seventh.”
Harvey said he intends to attack hitters earlier in the count more often than he did last Thursday.
“Early attacking, a little bit more, a little bit better, a little more fine and try to get us later in the ballgame.”
There’s no pleasing this kid, is there? It’s his first meaningful start in nearly 600 days, all eyes are on him and no matter what the superhero people believe him to be, he is actually human and isn’t going to have his best stuff on occasion.
The thing is, he was still great. He’s the kind of pitcher who, when he’s at 75-80% of his best, he is still better than most at 95-100%. He’s a rare player with a unique, perfectionist-type of personality, and so far it’s done nothing but good things for him in his young career.
Harvey is excited to pitch in front of the home crowd tonight, although he admits he’s not as amped up for this start as he was for his first start last week.
“After the first one is over with, you can kind of get into the swing of the five-day rotation, watching the other guys throw,” Harvey said. “Your home crowd is always behind you. For me they’ve been great, always been extremely supportive and very uplifting.
It’s as if he never blew out his elbow in August, 2013. Just like he wants it.
Just Mets 
One response to “Matt Harvey intends to be more efficient in his home debut”
Random thought of little consequence – but if Harvey has a great season this year, wouldn’t it make sense to give him a long term, big money deal now (similar to the one Boras will likely want for him in 2019)? Boras’ idea is to get a huge deal then, because Harvey will have spent so much time “underpaid” through the arbitration process… so why not throw the motherload at him now, and pay him while he’ll be able to try and meet the standard that deal will set.
I understand arbitration, and why pay a guy if you don’t have to, and Sandy’s aversion to big money, long term deals – but, as with Wright, this could be a special case. Again, just thinking out loud.
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