N.Y. Mets: Matt Harvey's Thirty-Three Starts Equal A Season

From the desk of:   HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

NEW YORK METS: Every Fifth Day, The Matt Signal Illuminates Over Flushing Bay, And The Fans Come Flocking To See Their New Hero In Action.


Number thirty-three, the Dark Knight of Gotham; Real Deal; or as I like to call him, the Time Bandit - Matt Harvey, not so coincidentally made the thirty-third start of his major league career this evening against the Colorado Rockies, and dominated them.

With two outs in the ninth inning and on his 100th pitch of the night, he took a comebacker off his right knee - a direct hit in which the ball caromed into right field for a single.  A momentary silence arrested Citi Field, followed by a collective exhale of relief.  Harvey brushed that aside and finished off Colorado with haste.

After getting somewhat roughed up in his last start during one of his shorter appearances of the season, Matt Harvey bounced back to pitch his first ever complete game, and (four hit) shutout.  He walked no batters and struck out six.  Matt threw an efficient 106 pitches on the night, seventy-eight for strikes, for an effective rate of seventy-four percent, and averaged just eleven pitches per innings.  He lowered his ERA to 2.09, which is second only to L.A.'s Clayton Kershaw for the best ERA in all of baseball.  In twenty-three starts, Harvey is now 9-3 this season, with eleven no-decisions.

For entertainment purposes of course, Matt Harvey now has enough work under his belt to constitute one full major league season.  As noted, he has thirty-three starts to his credit.  In 219 total innings pitched, Matt has surrendered just 108 hits and only walked fifty-five to give him an impressive 0.744 WHiP.  He has only surrendered fifty-five earned runs, and just twelve home runs, for a 2.26 ERA.  Most impressive are his wide repertoire and command of pitches, featuring a high-90's fastball and nasty off-speed stuff which helped him amass 248 strikeouts, good for a 10.2 K/9 average.  His overall record is 12-8, with and absurd thirteen no-decisions.  Thank poor run support for that only blemish in an otherwise impeccable beginning to a career.

More than just stats, Matt Harvey has become an event at Citi Field.  Every fifth day, the Matt Signal illuminates over Flushing Bay, and the fans come to see their new hero in action.  Wednesday night in the Citi, a little over 27,000 fans supplied the electricity and buzz as best they could.  Matt Harvey took care of the rest.  He, and a handful of other young stewards are making it okay to come out of the house again.



Mike.BTB