Just Mets

The Mets strategically aligned their starting rotation to have three of their four best starters pitch against the Nationals, in what really is a big and must-win series for the Mets if they are going to make any noise over winning the division.

They decided Matt Harvey would open the series against Washington, followed by Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.

In a way, the strategy to align the rotation for the series against the Nationals has backfired through the first four games of this road trip.

So much for forward thinking.

Harvey last pitched on July 11 against the Diamondbacks, during which he walked four batters while allowing two runs in seven innings for his eighth win of the season.

Ten days later on Monday, the Mets co-ace was tasked with pitching one of the biggest games of the year for the Mets as they opened a series viewed as potentially season-altering for both battered teams.

But, the consequences of yet another long layoff showed early for Harvey.

Harvey – making his fifth start of the year with six or more days of rest – struggled against the Nationals on Monday, allowing five runs and four walks over the first three innings, putting the Mets in an insurmountable 5-0 hole in which they would eventually fall 7-2.

Harvey has now walked 13 batters in his last three starts after walking 17 in his prior 15 starts in 2015.

“We are all excited to play and play here especially, and unfortunately I didn’t get it going early,” Harvey said after he loss. “I just had to be better earlier in the game.”

Harvey came out firing on Monday. He was consistently 97-99 mph with his fastball and his slider was also electric, sitting consistently in the low-90s.

“I don’t think it was the game. I think it just was how my body felt,” Harvey said. “You come out fresh like that and everything feels good.”

But he beat himself immediately with his own fielding mistake on a bunt single by Danny Espinosa, which really should be changed to an error. Later in the inning, he was hurt by a mental mistake by the inexperienced Eric Campbell at first base on a rundown play when he turned his back to Bryce Harper at third, who easily scored the inning’s second run.

“You have to worry about the run at third, that is the most important guy on the field,” Collins explained of Campbell’s mistake. “When [Campbell] got turned around, once the runner left the base line, Eric turned to make the tag and he was in trouble.”

Still, Harvey struggled to overcome his own issues on the mound, attributing those struggles to being overly fresh with the long layoff.

“Everything felt so good and fresh that everything was kind of spraying all over the place,” Harvey explained. “It was one of those games where I need to put up zeroes earlier in the game, and I wasn’t able to do that.”

Collins attributed Harvey’s command issues to rust from the long layoff in between starts.

“There has been a lot made of this road trip and I know [Harvey] was kind of jacked up because of it,” Collins explained. “I think he overthrew a little bit, but I think the rust had a lot to do with it.”

This is really part of the problem, whether it truly is a reason for Harvey’s struggles or not.

This is a player who has made it well known he wants to pitch with a consistent routine, and he has had anything but a consistent routine this season. The team continues to shift between a five-man and a six-man rotation, to a six-man light to a five-man heavy, back to a six-man rotation, and now a five-man rotation which will soon feature a spot starter.

Preparation and routine are so important for a pitcher, and this rotation has had no consistency in that regard in 2015.

That’s not to say Harvey pitching on Friday or Saturday in St. Louis would have fared any better than he did on Monday. He still would have been pitching with extra rest, as he had in his previous four starts. And, there’s no question he’s still in the process of rebuilding from Tommy John Surgery.

But they might have been able to get more out of Harvey pitching on shorter rest against the Cardinals in a series of equal value in which they lost.

Harvey certainly wouldn’t use the extra rest as an excuse for his struggles.

“Everybody is coming off the same amount of rest, so I’m not using that as an excuse,” Harvey said. “It was tough for me. I couldn’t find it early and everything felt so good and fresh that I was kind of spraying it all over the place.”

Harvey did complete seven innings, retiring the final 14 batters he faced. He is now 8-7 with a 3.19 ERA in 118 1/3 innings over 18 starts in 2015.