A Long Island native with lifelong ties to the orange and blue, the 51-year-old endeared himself to the fan base during New York’s pennant-winning 2015 season when his selfie-style video reactions to the Mets’ daily fortunes became popular on social media. Rather than watch the action from a suite like many celebrities prefer, Breuer can often be seen cheering amongst the crowds at Citi Field.

While his energetic and offbeat style makes him an ideal fit for the stage, the “SNL” alum is just as comfortable discussing the history of his favorite baseball team. A follower of the Amazins since 1973, Breuer reflected on Mets third baseman David Wright and what the team captain meant to him personally over the course of a storied career.

“He was the guy, you know? I’ve only went through two cycles of players where I got to watch them come out of the system,” Breuer said during a recent phone interview. “Watching him come through the system and then become that Met guy was really awesome because there really hasn’t been once since the ’80s.”

Drafted by the Mets 38th overall in 2001, Wright was the longest-tenured active player to spend his career with the same team. Until returning to action last Friday night as a pinch-hitter, the seven-time All-Star had missed almost two and a half years with debilitating back, neck and shoulder injuries. The franchise leader in hits, RBIs, runs, extra-base hits, walks and a few other offensive categories, Wright played in his last major league game on Saturday in front of 43,828 emotional supporters whom he addressed in a brief on-field ceremony following the last out.

Currently on the road performing stand-up and touring with Metallica, Breuer planned to watch the night play out backstage on his iPad as he prepared for a private show in San Francisco. Wright’s 2-year-old and infant daughters were in the ballpark, however, to witness him play for the first time in the 35-year-old’s big league career.

“I always say God has you out there for the right reasons. For all you know, he needs to be home with his little girls. He needs to be taking care of his body for something deeper that may happen down the road, so in the end it doesn’t even matter if his kids saw him play,” Breuer said. “My kids have no clue that I did TV and stuff. They just care that you’re a dad. My wife just cares that I’m a husband, and maybe at this point in his life it’ll be a little more important for him and he can relax and give his body a rest and know that he gave it his all and he was one of the all-time greatest.”

Wright provided many memorable moments since first appearing as a fresh faced 21-year-old from Virginia, but one in particular that stands out for Breuer came in a key game down the stretch in 2015 against division-rival Washington.

“That summed up a career and his life as a Met. As a Met fan I felt like one of my children just felt that all-time, lifetime moment,” Breuer recalled. “I believe it was against the Nationals and they were coming to the final stretch and there was a play at the plate and he slid in and he got up and he did the big fist pump down, and you see that clip a bunch of times now. I’ve been seeing it more and more. I remember watching that moment and seeing the excitement in his face, and that thrill and the passion. For me that’s the moment I’m going to remember (from) him forever. The passion he had as a Met. The thrill of feeling that we can win this. We can beat these guys. We can take it all.”

Wright’s enthusiastic reaction after sliding in safely with an important run late in that game was both exciting and also somewhat out of character for the typically-reserved Mets captain. In fact, Breuer wasn’t convinced early on that Wright had what it took to be a leader based on his calm demeanor. That all changed when the third baseman stepped in after separate incidents where two of the club’s young pitchers behaved in a manner he thought was unbefitting of a major leaguer.

“There was a long time where people would say he needs to be the leader, he needs to be the captain, and he’s got such a soft, I don’t know the exact word, clean-ish personality. And I went, I don’t know, is he really the captain?” Breuer said. “But I have to say, you’d see little examples which made me respect him so much more. He looked like a timid guy and he seems to be the guy that, I wouldn’t say is a pushover, but can easily be like, ‘ahh, just let it go, it’s all good.’ But there were a couple moments where Noah Syndergaard came up and I believe he stepped up and said something to Noah.”

Breuer added: “And then that whole thing with Matt Harvey. I remember that moment too, when Matt was walking in the outfield (during batting practice) and they showed it and David Wright kind of gave that ‘You just disrespected the team, bro. You put yourself ahead of the team.’ look. That was a powerful moment for me as a fan, not so much against Matt but I saw that full-blown respect like, ‘hey, David’s in charge here and he sets a tone on how you’re supposed to be as a player and as a gentleman.’ It almost goes up there with, I got to say, like a Gary Carter but without the high intensity.”

Jose Reyes, Wright’s partner on the left side of the infield for many years, took his usual place at shortstop for Saturday night’s sendoff and shared several laughs and embraces with his old buddy throughout the evening. A former batting champion who led the NL in stolen bases three consecutive years, Reyes batted just .189 this season and his career may also be coming to a close, a fact not lost on Breuer.

“I say he was one of the most exciting Mets that I’ve ever watched and rooted for in my whole life. I love Jose Reyes,” Breuer said of the former shortstop who was brought back to the Mets in 2016 after his domestic violence suspension ended. “I loved him from the moment he showed up. I was absolutely heartbroken when he left. When he came back I know he wasn’t the same player. I don’t care. It’s like having an old family member. He gave me the greatest thrills for the longest time as a Met fan. I adore Jose Reyes and he’ll always have a special place for me in my heart as a Met fan. He’s one of my all-time favorites. Everything about him. That smile, the years when he would just get on base and be a menace to society. He’d hit one in the gap and before you blink he was on third and it was over.”

Wright has stated that he’d like to stay involved with the club in some capacity, a development that could provide some consolation to Breuer and his fellow Mets fanatics.

“I hope he stays in the organization forever. That would mean so much to me as a Mets fan, to see David Wright always be a Met,” Breuer hoped. “I feel better as a Met fan moving forward knowing that he’s going to be somewhere in the organization and I hope Jose Reyes is, too.”

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

Matt Harvey isn’t easy either.

He never was. From the day the Mets drafted him in June 2010 as the seventh overall pick with that stupid typo to Friday, the last day of his Mets career, he was never easy. None of it was easy. He fought with Terry Collins in the dugout and through Scott Boras. He drove too fast and drank too much and had his heart broken. He loved pitching, even if it didn’t seem like it sometimes. He was loud and brash and abrasive. He was a true New York athlete, for all that title entails. That’s what the Mets wanted out of the Dark Knight and that’s what he gave them. But that doesn’t work when your fastball tops out at 92. Relievers with a 7 ERA don’t get to be loud and brash and abrasive.

Game 5 of the 2015 World Series was one of the best pitching performances most of us will ever see. The 2013 bloody nose game too. But injuries destroyed him and he became Mike Pelfrey without the split or the breaking ball. Arms like Harvey’s aren’t owned. They don’t last forever. They’re gifts from the baseball gods that can be ripped away at any time, by Tommy John surgery or Thoracic Outlet Syndrome or age. We take stars for granted because we think they’ll last forever. We think they have more starts, more home runs, more diving catches. But that’s not how time works, and it’s not how the Mets work. Because the Mets don’t make it easy and they don’t let legends live.

It’s hard to describe a true Metsing; you just know it when you see it. Hansel Robles pointing at 425-foot home runs as if they were routine pop-ups is the Mets. Michael Conforto dislocating his shoulder on a swing is the Mets. Bobby Valentine’s disguise is the Mets. Luis Castillo’s dropped ball and Endy Chavez’s catch are the Mets. Willie Randolph’s 3 a.m. firing is the Mets. Jordany Valdespin is the Mets.

Matt Harvey was supposed to get a ring and a statue and a plaque in Cooperstown. But there’s nothing more Mets than failure. He was a legend for a while, longer than he had any right to be and yet for just the briefest moment in history. He won’t be remembered like that because that’s not how the Mets are. He was too easy a villain. He partied too much and he didn’t respect the media and he put his own interests above the team’s. “You either die a hero or you live long enough to become a villain.” That was never fair but that was always how his story was going to end, because it was easier to cast him as the Joker than to admit that he had to fail. Harvey was hope and strength and power. He was the Dark Knight. He was something to believe in.

Then he wasn’t. And the Mets keep going.

Photo credit: Tommy Gilligan – USA Today Sports

Forget all that you know and all you have heard.

Specifically, forget any talk of shutdowns and innings limits, ignore any hastily thrown together PR rehab, pretend you don’t know about his Tommy John surgery or his agent and push off any conversations about trade rumors or 2018 free agencies.

To be blunt: for now, forget about all the bullshit.

Matt Harvey has thrown 427 innings in his professional career. He has posted a 2.53 ERA, a 2.65 FIP, and a 2.94 DRA. He has struck out 26.6 percent of the batters he’s faced and walked 5.6 percent. Across his career, he has been as good as any pitcher in baseball not named Clayton Kershaw. Matt Harvey is an ace.

Matt Harvey also pitches for the Mets, so thus far he has had limited opportunities to demonstrate that in meaningful games or on a big stage. He started the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field. That was nice. It was also an exhibition. You probably don’t remember what his line in the box score looked like. You may remember how he pitched against the Nationals the Tuesday after Labor Day. It was his first start after all that stuff you were supposed to forget about happened. The Mets’ lead over Washington had been cut to four heading into that series. New York won a crazy one on Labor Day, giving Harvey the opportunity to deliver a staggering blow to the Nats’ division chances. It was clear he didn’t have it early on, getting touched up for three runs in the first two innings before getting chased from Nationals Park after Yoenis Cespedes played a one- or two-run single into a Little League grand slam. That never made it into any leads though, because the Mets won an even crazier one.

After that game, the Matt Harvey story receded into the background. The talk of the town was the Mets cruising to an improbable NL East division title. Features started to pop up about the Mets’ deadline moves. There were whispers that Harvey might only pitch out of the pen in the postseason, or might only start once a series — and be hard-capped on pitches even then — but it was all drowned out by the exuberance of a fanbase and media that finally had a winner to enjoy and cover. When it was announced Harvey would start Game 3 of the NLDS against the Dodgers, no one was that surprised, but with Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard slated for Games 1 and 2, it just wasn’t anything to get worked up over. Everything was house money.

Harvey didn’t pitch terribly in Game 3. He just wasn’t quite sharp, and some hard-hit balls in the second inning quickly took the wind out of a previously euphoric Citi Field crowd. We were still years away from a Clayton Kershaw narrative, and anyway, the Mets won the craziest — well if I’m honest it probably wasn’t crazier than the two Nationals games, but Cespedes did do this. The Mets gutted out the series in five games behind some greatness and some guile from deGrom, and whatever the heck got into Daniel Murphy (at this point I will buy any explanation, no matter how ludicrous). But the team had to burn both deGrom and Syndergaard in the clincher, leaving Harvey to take the ball in Game 1 against the Cubs.

And we will get there, I promise. It says so right in the title. But I need you to understand one more thing: Mets fans want very badly to cheer for Harvey unencumbered by all that bullshit I mentioned at the open. He was the opening salvo from the revamped farm system, the first indication that things were starting to turn for the organization. And it happened in a blink of an eye. One day he was a good prospect, a top 50 type. A fairly safe No. 3 who had a shot at being a good, durable No. 2 if the command tightened up and one of his two breaking balls got a little bit better. Then he stepped on the mound in Arizona.

The Sports Illustrated covers, Jimmy Fallon sketches and even a bit of nude modeling followed. A run at the 2013 Cy Young was derailed by a torn UCL and Mets fans had to muddle through another lost season in 2014 without #HarveyDay once a week. The anticipation for his first Spring Training start was palpable, the wait for his first 2015 start against the Nationals interminable.

Literally anything short of the Boras/Harvey camp’s bizarre September media strategy and Mets fans would have continued to happily don their Dark Knight masks and cheer themselves into hoarseness for Harvey. That’s a (rare) bit of canny marketing by the Mets, but the fanbase’s love for Harvey is organic.

The media may be candid about how difficult he is to deal with, and he is probably not going to win any straw polls in the locker room right now for “best teammate,” but none of that would matter if Harvey could get the Mets a win out of the gate at home in front of 45,000 freezing Flushing faithful.

That inexplicable Arizona debut was made possible by the sudden, rapid development of Harvey’s hard slider, the first of the Mets’ young arms to take to the now-named “Warthen Slider.” It was a bread-and-butter pitch for him in his breakout 2013 season, but he came out Saturday night mixing in his curveball and his changeup much more frequently, and much earlier in the start than he usually does. It was very effective, as even dopes on Twitter could see.

Early returns sure look like Super Shove Harvey at least.

— Jeffrey Paternostro (@jeffpaternostro) October 18, 2015

#analysis

Harvey retired the first 12 batters he faced as Citi Field got louder and louder. He battled with runners on base late getting big strikeout after big strikeout even after taking a hard comebacker off his right shoulder. He pitched into the eighth, went over 200 innings pitched for the season and left the mound to a deafening and completely earnest ovation from the same fans who were a month ago calling for him to be traded to the Rockies this offseason (or the Solovki, whatever).

The best comparison I can come up with for an ace shoving in the playoffs, driving his team to victory in this high-stakes, high-leverage world, is a particularly beautiful, technically difficult aria in a language you aren’t fluent in. There is no exquisite beauty that does not have some strangeness in its proportion after all. But I can tell you how Harvey did what he did last night. He has four plus pitches in his arsenal. His execution and sequencing of them were as good as any outing in his career when accounting for the weather conditions. Blowing three fastballs by Javier Baez with runners on was a particularly lovely bit of vibrato.

This start deserves to be admired free of context, free of Twitter jokes about Boras getting on the phone from the office of the politburo as soon as Harvey took the ball off his pitching arm, probably free of strained opera metaphors, and definitely free of bullshit. And maybe even for a day we can hold off on the cynical takes that the only reason he is doing this now is because he has an insurance policy on his now-bruised right arm.

There will be plenty of time for context. No doubt all will eventually be revealed. But for one night in Queens, there were just Mets fans screaming the name of their homegrown, beloved ace who pushed them all one game closer to a spectacular ending to an improbable season.

Encore, encore.

It has to be fate. It’s simply the only explanation as to how the best way to describe Matt Harvey’s Mets career in one sentence is a quote from the movie where: a) he earned his nickname from and b) the quote comes from a character with the first name Harvey. It doesn’t end there though, because as you might have guessed, Matt Harvey and Harvey Dent both have extremely similar career arcs as well. Dent’s a good guy for about 40 minutes of the movie before an accident (injury) turns him into a villain. Matt Harvey was incredible, undoubtedly one of the best pitchers in all of baseball from 2012-2015, before injuries took a toll and sapped him of his powers. The Mets built Matt Harvey up so high at the peak of his powers and then had no idea what to do when he couldn’t live up to the name.

After making just 10 starts for the team in 2012, Harvey’s first full season with the Mets came a year later in 2013. He threw 178.1 innings while striking out 191 hitters and was practically unhittable the entire season, as evidenced by his 2.27 ERA and 2.07 DRA. It was a meteoric rise for Harvey, from top prospect full of potential to one of the biggest stars in New York, and no one, besides maybe Harvey himself, knew just how big he’d become. Harvey had it all in 2013: he was the starter for the NL in the All-Star game, got his own Sports Illustrated cover, and even showed he could have a little fun with his hit appearance on Jimmy Fallon. It sounds crazy on the surface, but 2013 Matt Harvey was 2017 Aaron Judge.

Think about it: both Harvey and Judge experienced a fascinating and unexpected rise to stardom in the most sports craved city in the world. Every Harvey start was must-see TV, just like every Judge at-bat was last season. Every fifth day was “Harvey Day” just like every Judge home run had its own moniker, “All Rise.” Matt Harvey brought star power to the Mets and captured the attention of everyone, non-baseball fans included, and Judge did the same for the Yankees last season. It’s hard to believe considering all the negative media attention surrounding Harvey now, but he was the darling of New York before Judge was even in the Yankees system. Although both men were first-round picks with expectations to become major leaguers, the Mets and Yankees would be lying if they said they knew they were both going to be this good. There was no bigger star in New York in 2013 than Harvey; even Yankee fans were enamored with the ultra-competitive righthander with electric stuff. The Mets finally had a star on the level of past greats, one who seemed destined to spend his entire career with the Mets and become the best homegrown pitcher since Doc Gooden. Then it all came crashing down.

First came the torn UCL and ensuing Tommy John surgery that robbed Harvey of the entire 2014 season. Tommy John surgery used to be a death sentence for a pitcher, but recent medical advances have allowed players to return to almost exactly the same form they showed prior to injury. Harvey was no exception, as he held a 2.71 ERA across 189.1 innings to go along with 188 strikeouts and looked like the ace of old. Teams are usually cautious to overwork a pitcher coming off an arm injury, but the Mets rode Harvey to a World Series appearance and allowed him to throw an additional 26.2 innings during postseason play. Harvey was on the verge of a legendary performance in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series, but he asked to start the ninth inning and allowed an Eric Hosmer double that would score Lorenzo Cain and put the tying run on base. No one can know for sure if Harvey’s extreme usage in 2015 caused the myriad of injuries and inconsistent performance in the years to follow, but we can say for certain that he was never the same afterward.

Harvey didn’t look right to begin the 2016 season — his average fastball velocity was down about a mile per hour and his results were significantly un-Harvey like. With a 4.86 ERA in only 92.2 innings, the Mets shut him down and placed him on the DL with a right shoulder injury. What we didn’t know at the time was that Harvey lost the feeling sensation in his right hand and was unable to properly grip and feel a baseball anymore. Harvey elected to undergo Thoracic Outlet surgery to correct his problem, a surgery with a much lower success rate than Tommy John.

From the minute he went under the knife in 2016, it was clear to the organization and the fanbase that Harvey was never going to be the same. Thoracic Outlet Syndrome has robbed many pitchers of their once promising careers and Harvey was the latest in line. Gone were the days when Matt Harvey captivated an entire city with his appearances. Keeping with our Aaron Judge comparison, it’d be like Judge suddenly shrinking six inches during an offseason. Imagine if Aaron Judge couldn’t hit home runs anymore. How valuable of a player would he become? It’s exactly what happened to Harvey, who lost his velocity and ability to command his pitches through no fault of his own.

It’s easy to look back on Matt Harvey’s Mets career and be upset at how it eventually unfolded, but chalk that up to bad injury luck; don’t blame Matt Harvey because he wasn’t the friendliest guy in the clubhouse. One of the fiercest and most competitive athletes in a city full of them, Harvey stood taller than them all once upon a time. He went from one of, if not the, most celebrated athletes in New York to the entire fan base clamoring and celebrating his release from the organization in only five years. Matt Harvey was the hero the Mets needed in 2012, a sense of hope for an organization that had none. Like Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight though, the pitcher was a Met long enough to see himself become a villain, wearing out his welcome as soon as he lost his effectiveness in the eyes of the fanbase. A sensational rise to the top followed by a remarkable fall to the bottom, Matt Harvey had it all, until he didn’t.

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports

Matt Harvey’s Perspective: A person with a calm demeanor and thinking rationally would of course in that situation think that Harvey should take himself out of the game, let Jeurys Familia or Addison Reed finish the job and let the Mets season survive another day. That was my thoughts out in Big Apple Reserved seats after the eighth inning of Game 5. But then again, I was a fan just watching the game. I was not Matt Harvey, who had just thrown eight shutout innings in the biggest game of his life.

From Harvey’s perspective, it’s easy to see in retrospect why he would demand to come back out and pitch the ninth inning. Being penned the “Dark Knight of Gotham” in a 2013 Sports Illustrated article by Tom Verducci, Harvey became the Mets’ ace and “savior,” despite his young age. With such pressure on himself, Harvey took it upon himself to be the one to close out the game. He had already gone eight innings with nine strikeouts and had just gotten a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth. The Mets’ win expectancy at that point was 94%. There was no reason for Harvey to think he couldn’t finish that game. But it also was the exact example of mistakes made in leaders; his distrust of the bullpen was most likely an example of recency bias, even though the Mets bullpen had performed well during the season and stayed slightly above average in FIP. But instead, he was almost certainly looking at the bullpen that had just lost Games 1 and 4 of the series. He couldn’t trust them to get that game finished, so he put it upon himself to get it done.

As the leader, Harvey had to be the one to finish the game. Think back to all the great postseason performance. They don’t end with the star pitcher pitching eight innings and then leaving before the ninth despite a dominant performance. Aces finish games. With all this said, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Harvey demanded the ball. It was his moment to shine, his biggest game and he could not trust the bullpen to get the job done. Every star pitcher would have done the same and demanded the ball under those circumstances. If not, fans would be complaining on the radio about the pitcher’s lack of “toughness” for giving up the ball. No one can blame Harvey for what he did that day. If they do, they’re only fooling themselves about the would-be hero of Gotham.

Terry Collins’ Perspective: Now that we understand why Matt Harvey demanded to Dan Warthen and Terry Collins that he wanted the ball to pitch the ninth inning, let’s consider why the skipper let Matt Harvey stay in the game. Once again, from a fan’s perspective it appears, Collins should have been the one to tell Harvey “no,” but, as the manager, he had good reason to let his ace finish what he started. First, there was the simple fact that Harvey had just easily completed the eighth inning on nine pitches, getting three routine fly ball outs. With that ease of an inning, Harvey could easily pitch the next one as well. His fastball was still at 96 mph, slider around 90 mph and curveball and changeup were still hitting 86 mph. There was no obvious reason to think he was slowing down. The other fact of the matter is that the Mets bullpen was tired. Familia had pitched the first four games and had been off. His ERA was only 1.80 but his strikeout rate was 5.4 compared to 9.9 during the regular season. Tyler Clippard also had not pitched well during the World Series and although Addison Reed had looked good prior to that game, it seemed unlikely that Collins would go to anyone but Familia. The biggest reason, though, is that worst of all, Collins could always bring on a reliever right away at the first sign of trouble, which he did anyway. Collins did what most old-school managers would have done: let their starting pitcher try to finish the game. Unfortunately for Collins and the Mets, it backfired.

If Harvey had been able to pitch the ninth and close the door on the Royals for a Game 5 win, Harvey could have cemented his name in Mets history. There was no way of knowing of what his career would become and the injuries and downfall that would occur. Any pitcher in Harvey’s situation would have done the same and all he can ever hope for is that he once again gets that situation. While unfortunately that won’t occur with the Mets, as a fan, I sincerely hope that Harvey finds a team where he can be successful and one day, get that moment to shine in October (or November) again.

The Mets were not no-hit yesterday; when you’re in this kind of organizational drift, the avoidance of abject humiliation is a victory of sorts. And when you’re the Mets, an 11-0 drubbing is not going to be the most humiliating part of your day. The dog days of May are here, four days in. Strap in; we’re in for quite the summer.

The Mets dropped their third in a row as Atlanta came into town a promising young team and left in sole possession of first place in the NL East, but no elbows or diamond chains were broken in the course of the game. It’s a process.

But this wasn’t the plan. They are lost. They are so, so lost, friends.

Atlanta’s Julio Teheran no-hit the Mets for six and two thirds innings until Asdrubal Cabrera broke it up with a two-out double in the seventh. By then, the Mets were down eleven runs, but it was fine. The Mets would load the bases but not score in that frame. Everything’s fine.

When the team signed Jason Vargas to a two-year, $16 million contract in February, the suggestion that Matt Harvey would be mopping up behind him in the fifth on the wrong side of a six-run deficit, only to add another five himself, would have been — not laughable, but if it was even plausible, surely some infrastructure around Citi Field would have been a better destination for that cash. A revamp of the subway staircase. Maybe some additional parking.

“I thought I had until at least the All-Star break,” a fellow traveler texted in the sixth inning.

Vargas lasted four and two thirds, surrendering eleven hits, three home runs and six earned runs. Harvey went two innings, surrendering five more. Jerry Blevins and Jeurys Familia covered the eighth and ninth and surrendered no runs. Everything’s fine.

Perhaps Vargas is still knocking the rust off after an interrupted spring training. But that can’t explain why the Mets have scored two runs in three games.

The Mets take on Colorado tonight at Citi Field at 7.10 p.m. Zack Wheeler (2-1, 4.09) will face German Marquez (1-3, 5.14).

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports

For the second consecutive day, New York’s offense got off to a fast start, as Asdrubal Cabrera led off the game with a double into the left center field gap and later scored on a Todd Frazier single. The Mets’ early rally stalled with just the one run after Wilmer Flores bounced into an inning ending double play, but with the stuff number 48 in gray had last night, that one run felt like an insurmountable advantage.

deGrom was in complete control from the get-go, needing only 10 pitches to get through Wil Myers, Eric Hosmer and Christian Villanueva in the Padres’ first, and in the second inning he threw only eight pitches, aided by Jose Lobaton gunning down Franchy Cordero after a lead-off single. Offensively, the Mets threatened in virtually every frame, but San Diego starter Clayton Richard did a nice job of keeping his club in the game, as New York was unable to extend their lead in the relatively uneventful middle innings.

The drama finally began to heighten in the seventh, as after Juan Lagares and Lobaton led off the inning with back-to-back hits to set the table, Richard retired deGrom on a sacrifice bunt and Amed Rosario on a ground ball with the infield in. With their starter on the brink of getting out of trouble, rather than allow Richard to turn the line-up over a fourth time San Diego opted to go to the bullpen, summoning right-hander Craig Stammen. Cabrera greeted the veteran rudely, delivering the big hit New York has been missing in recent days, crushing a long three-run homer on the first pitch he saw, extending the Mets’ lead to 4-0 and essentially signaling game over.

After a relatively easy seventh that watched deGrom walk off the hill just shy of 100 pitches, he was somewhat surprisingly allowed to bat for himself in the top of the eighth, striking out to end a productive offensive inning for New York, as Lobaton had extended the lead to 5-0 with an RBI double. In the eighth, the 2014 NL Rookie of the Year struck out pinch-hitter Matt Szczur to open the inning, but after Myers roped a base hit, Mickey Callaway removed deGrom from the game, turning it over to a bullpen that has been shaky of late. Jerry Blevins gave the road dugout a scare shortly after entering the contest, as the left hander allowed Hosmer to crush a ball to right field that the park was just big enough to allow Michael Conforto to make a leaping grab at the wall.

The final drama in this one came in the bottom of the ninth, as Callaway ushered *relief pitcher* Matt Harvey into the game for the final three outs, but it didn’t take long for Harvey to make his manager nervous. Cordero led off with a long homer to dead center field, and Harvey then lost Jose Pirela to a walk. After going full on Carlos Asuaje, Harvey was fortunate to get him to finally loft a routine fly ball to center field for the first out. Freddy Galvis then rolled into a 4-6-3 to end the game, earning the Mets a needed win.

New York will continue their weekend get together with the Padres tonight with Jason Vargas set to make his first start of 2018 opposite San Diego rookie southpaw Joey Lucchesi.

Photo credit: Jake Roth – USA Today Sports

After a brief stint as a rookie with the club in the second half of the 2012 season, Matt Harvey set the world on fire the following year, pitching to a 2.27 ERA with a 2.01 FIP, 0.931 WHIP and 191 strikeouts, officially becoming The Dark Knight. That is, of course, until that August when it was revealed that the man who had finally brought hope back to a downtrodden fanbase had a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow.

Despite missing the entire 2014 season, Harvey returned in 2015 resembling the pitcher of old. In 29 starts that year, Harvey pitched to a 2.71 ERA with a 3.05 FIP, 1.019 WHIP and 188 strikeouts in the regular season. After making four starts that postseason, Harvey pitched a combined 216 innings in 2015 — the most innings ever thrown by a pitcher in their first season following Tommy John surgery.

The lasting image of the Matt Harvey everyone knew and loved was the man who ran out onto the field in the ninth inning of the World Series to thunderous applause. That was the final time The Dark Knight was ever seen on a baseball field.

Ever since that night, things have spiraled for Harvey; the former ace has pitched to a 9-19 record with a 5.79 ERA, 4.88 FIP, 1.565 WHIP while allowing 249 hits and 77 walks in 208.1 innings pitched.

At the start of 2016, it appeared as if a change in his mechanics was the cause of Harvey’s struggles, but instead thoracic outlet syndrome made it difficult for him to even feel the baseball in his hand due to nerve damage. For the second time in his career, Harvey’s season ended early due to major surgery.

Unlike Tommy John, thoracic outlet surgery hasn’t been as common in the major leagues over the last decade. And while a majority of pitchers have been able to effectively recover from Tommy John surgery, the careers that have successfully continued following thoracic outlet surgery is a much smaller number.

Yet despite having Tommy John surgery, pitching the most innings in baseball history following said procedure and then undergoing thoracic outlet surgery (where he needed to get one of his ribs removed), there is still a widespread narrative that the downfall of Matt Harvey has been caused because of his brash personality and mindset.

That is just patently false.

Let’s be real: Matt Harvey is not the most friendly of guys when it comes to how he’s dealt with the media. I think we all acknowledge this. But that also isn’t anything new. When Harvey was pitching to a 2.53 ERA in his first three seasons, nearly everyone loved his outward personality, confident attitude and celebrity status. Now that he’s pitching to an ERA that has eclipsed 5.00, though, people suddenly have a problem with it and think it’s the cause of his issues.

Matt Harvey’s velocity hasn’t decreased by a mile per hour each of the last three years because of his personality. His walk rate hasn’t increased over the last three years because of his personality, either. Nor is his inability to rarely pitch past the fifth inning because of his personality. This is medical, and it can all be traced back to the moment he was struck with thoracic outlet syndrome.

It may not be what people want to hear, but Harvey is a sympathetic character in this story. That being said, his actions haven’t exactly made him someone who’s easy to root for.

In 2015, Harvey was largely scrutinized for showing up late to the team’s first postseason workouts. Last season, there was the incident where Harvey didn’t even show up to Citi Field for a game and was suspended by the team for three games.

This season, things have devolved even further, as Mickey Callaway and the club made the decision to transition the struggling Harvey to the bullpen, just one day after the 29-year-old defiantly stated that he was a starting pitcher.

“On a scale of one-to-10, I obviously am at a 10 with being pissed off,” Harvey told reporters after being notified of the team’s decision.

The first relief outing of his career appeared to be more of the same, as Harvey’s velocity remained around 93 mph, his command was lacking and he allowed the Cardinals to take the lead immediately after the Mets came back to tie the game. Despite his somewhat shaky bullpen debut, New York rallied for one of their best wins of the season, but after the extra inning victory, Harvey was nowhere to be found, leaving rookie catcher Tomás Nido to answer questions about the righthander’s outing.

The following day, Harvey reportedly laughed as journalists approached him in the clubhouse, telling them “I have nothing to say to you guys.” When pressed as to why, Harvey replied, “I don’t [expletive] want to.”

While I’m on Harvey’s side here, I also acknowledge that it’s a part of a professional athlete’s job to speak with reporters. Yes, Harvey does not owe it to the media to answer their questions, but when he chooses not to, it leads to his manager and his teammates having to answer for him.

When it comes to Matt Harvey, most people tend to feel decidedly one way or the other. But, like most things in life, the reality lies somewhere in between.

Due to the serious medical procedures in his past, Harvey will likely never be the same pitcher he once was, and that’s not his fault. But he could also make life a little easier on himself with his off-the-field actions, which would go a long way in reminding people that he’s truly a sympathetic figure in this story; not the villain.

Photo credit: Jeff Curry – USA Today Sports

2010

Round 1: Pick 7

Matt Harvey, SP (North Carolina)

This was the last year of Omar Minaya’s tenure as Mets’ GM, and he truly left New York with a bevy of talent in the minor leagues. Matt Harvey is obviously a popular topic of conversation right now for negative reasons, but Minaya knocked it out of the park taking him in the first round eight years ago. Pitching is fickle any way you look at it, and few pitchers in the history of baseball had the immediate impact Harvey did on the game. His debut in 2012 was impressive, his dominance in 2013 was nearly unprecedented, and after missing a season due to Tommy John surgery, winning comeback player of the year in 2015 en route to helping the Mets win the National League pennant cemented his place as one of New York’s best first-round picks ever. Injuries in recent years have sapped Harvey of what he once was, but let’s not forget quite how good he really was.

As for the rest of the Mets’ 2010 draft, Minaya left the new regime quite a parting gift in ninth round pick Jacob deGrom.

2011

Round 1: Pick 13

Brandon Nimmo, OF (High School)

Brandon Nimmo was Sandy Alderson’s first first round pick as GM of the Mets, and prior to his emergence last season, he was at risk of being proclaimed a bust. Nimmo was taken with the pick directly before Miami selected Jose Fernandez, and those comparisons will always be there, but the kid from Wyoming has begun to distinguish himself over the past 12 months or so. Nimmo plays like a seasoned veteran, has a keen awareness of the strike zone, is not fazed by pressure, and most importantly has fun and enjoys playing the game. He’s currently New York’s fourth outfielder but that has everything to do with how much talent the Mets currently have on the roster, as he’d easily be a starter most other places.

Round 1: Pick 44

Michael Fulmer, SP (High School)

Fulmer never threw a pitch for the Mets but holds a place in team history, as he was the centerpiece of New York’s 2015 deadline trade with the Tigers for Yoenis Cespedes. The big right hander has gone on to become one of the better pitchers in the American League, but that hasn’t changed the fact that it was a good trade for the Amazins’.

Other familiar names New York drafted this year include Robert Gsellman, Logan Verrett, Jack Leathersich, Tyler Pill, Danny Muno and Phil Evans.

2012

Round 1: Pick 12

Gavin Cecchini, IF (High School)

Cecchini was the second of three consecutive high school players Alderson drafted in the first round, and he is by far the one most at risk of the bust label. The Louisiana native has seen limited time in the big leagues to date, and while he has shown flashes at times, he clearly is not high on the team’s organizational depth chart.

Round 1: Pick 35

Kevin Plawecki, C (Purdue)

The Mets’ better first round pick from this draft was their supplemental selection: Plawecki, who has been far from a star but has at least proven himself to be a big league player. It’s well documented how the Mets are in the market for catching at the moment, and while Plawecki getting hurt sort of sent that into overdrive, they had already needed help behind the plate. Catcher is arguably the most difficult position to find a bonafide star, and if you can develop one that can at minimum be a strong contributor to your roster, you did well.

Some other familiar names New York drafted in 2012 include Paul Sewald, Tomas Nido, Matt Reynolds, Matt Bowman and Chris Flexen.

2013

Round 1: Pick 11

Dominic Smith, 1B (High School)

Dom Smith had long been viewed as the Mets first base successor to Lucas Duda, and I guess in some capacity he still is, although his top prospect status has certainly dwindled. During his first extended big league opportunity down the stretch last season the LA native hit on the interstate, and he failed to make a positive impression on new manager Mickey Callaway during this year’s spring training. Smith is currently hitting just .246 for Triple-A Las Vegas, and he’ll have to seriously pick it up for New York to consider pulling the plug on Adrian Gonzalez anytime soon.

Sadly, as a whole the 2013 draft was a disappointment for the Mets, as the only other player from that class to make it to Citi Field was reliever Kevin McGowan.

2014

Round 1: Pick 10

Michael Conforto, OF (Oregon State)

To date, Conforto represents the biggest draft hit for Alderson and his staff, and perhaps not coincidentally he was the first collegiate player they drafted this high. In Conforto, the Mets added a pure hitter who was in the big leagues in just 13 months, not only filling a roster spot, but becoming a critical component of a World Series team. Last season, the Washington native blossomed into a star, and he’s well on his way to becoming the club’s next face of the franchise.

The rest of this draft class was not quite as big a smashing success, as nobody else has reached the majors; the most recognizable prospect on the list is Dash Winningham.

2015

Round 2: Pick 53

Desmond Lindsay, OF (High School)

The Mets did not have a first round pick in 2015 as they had to surrender that selection to Colorado as compensation for signing Michael Cuddyer as a free-agent, so their first pick in the draft came at number 53 overall in the way of Desmond Lindsay. The Florida-born outfielder has unfortunately never hit for the power he was projected to as he owns only 13 career minor league home runs, and he’s failed to advance past High-A St. Lucie.

The rest of New York’s 2015 draft class is more promising, as Thomas Szapucki, David Thompson, Corey Taylor and P.J. Conlon are all considered viable prospects.

2016

Round 1: Pick 19

Justin Dunn, SP (Boston College)

Dunn was a much talked about arm leading up to this draft, and the Mets were absolutely thrilled to add him with pick number 19. His minor league career got off to a little bit of a bumpy start but he has figured it out of late, and he’s unanimously considered one of New York’s premier prospects. In St. Lucie this year, the right hander has been dominant, pitching to a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings.

Other notable Mets draft picks from 2016 include Anthony Kay, Michael Paez and Peter Alonso.

2017

Round 1: Pick 20

David Peterson, SP (Oregon)

Most scouts consider the left-handed Peterson the Mets’ top minor league arm, and New York is confident he’ll be on an accelerated track to the big leagues. The former Oregon Duck is currently pitching for the Mets’ A-ball team in Columbia, but they’re hopeful he’ll be able to advance to St. Lucie some time before the end of the year.

Another name to watch from this class is 3B Mark Vientos, whom New York selected in the second round, as the team believes he can ultimately become their first long-term answer at the hot corner since David Wright.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

Rain mercifully cut short the Mets’ time in Atlanta, saving our ears and our sanity from any more Tomahawk Chops until [checks schedule] ugh, late May. Instead, the team headed off to St. Louis to face the less-auditory-but-still-rage-inducing Cardinals with Luke Weaver on the mound. Zack Wheeler took the hill for the Mets, and we all waited with baited breath (well, as baited as it can be for game 21 of the season) to see if we got more of Game 1 Wheeler in Miami or Game 2 Wheeler against the Nationals.

Game Recap

It was more of Game 2, and if you’re a fan of well-pitched ball games, this was not a good night for you. Wheeler gave up two runs in the first and two more in the fourth, needing 83 pitches to get even that far. He induced only three swinging strikes (that’s bad), allowed six hits, walked two and struck out three. The Cardinals weren’t fooled by anything, hitting seven balls with an exit velocity over 100. Wheeler was lucky he didn’t put the Mets in an even bigger hole.

Of course, Luke Weaver wasn’t much better. Some poor defense hurt him early on (Jay Bruce tripled, that should tell you all you need), but he had a 4-1 lead with two outs and nobody on in the fifth inning. Sixteen of his next 17 pitches were out of the strike zone, the only exception being a grooved fastball that Yoenis Cespedes vaporized for a game-tying, three-run home run. The ball left Cespedes’ bat at more than 115 mph and traveled an estimated 463 feet, just to the right of Big Mac Land.

With the game tied and Wheeler out of the game, the Mets’ turned to Matt Harvey for his first relief appearance. It was much the same from Harvey, who flashed a plus slider or two and surrounded it with 35 pitches of not much else. He struck out two and allowed one run in two innings of work on a pair of doubles, and the Mets took a 5-4 deficit into the seventh.

Paul Sewald came in next and continued to excel in a multi-inning role. He allowed just one hit in two innings of work, striking out one and needing only an efficient 25 pitches. The Mets offense backed him up in the top of the eighth, with Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce walking and singling to start the inning and put runners on the corners. Adrian Gonzalez followed with a sacrifice fly to left, and the game was tied at five.

Robert Gsellman pitched the ninth, and immediately it looked like we were heading for another very Metsian loss when the first two Cardinals reached. Instead, Gsellman struck out blossoming Met-killer Jose Martinez, then induced a double play to force extras. Bruce followed that up with a solo home run in the top of the 10th to put the Mets up, and Jeurys Familia slammed the door with a dominant inning of work to give the Mets their 15th win of the season.

Thoughts from the Game

This game was much closer to the blueprint the Mets’ drew up for their offense this offseason; Cespedes and Bruce hit dingers, and the pitching staff kept things close enough for the win. It’s good to see those two get going (Bruce finished a double short of the cycle) given their early season struggles. Even Michael Conforto showed some encouraging signs, drawing three walks, though it still feels like he hasn’t squared a ball up in weeks.

Yesterday was the first time since June 19, 2013 that Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler pitched on the same day. Back then, Harvey was still the Dark Knight and Wheeler was the next in a wave of pitching prospects that were supposed to carry the Mets back to the promised land. A lot has changed since ‘Super Tuesday’ though; Harvey is a shell of his former self, destroyed by TOS and vilified by the city that once chanted “Harvey’s better,” while Wheeler is as maddeningly inconsistent as ever with stuff that’s a couple degrees less impressive. Baseball will always find a way to break your heart.

On that note, the hullabaloo about Matt Harvey not talking to the media is absurd, insulting and patently ridiculous. Why not talk to Zack Wheeler, who was worse than Harvey, or to any of the other Mets pitchers who turned in quality performances? It’s playing to the lowest common denominator, the sort of fan who enjoys calling into WFAN and calling a player they’ve never met in person lazy or entitled because he’s not performing.

Other Mets News

Jason Vargas has been confirmed to make his debut in San Diego on Saturday. He joined the team in St. Louis and will hopefully offer a stabilizing, albeit unspectacular presence in the back of the Mets rotation.

The Columbia Fireflies played a doubleheader yesterday and got swept, but that’s not really news. Several Fireflies are making news with their standout performances, however. Chris Viall struck out twelve in 5.1 innings after striking out 11 in his previous start and now has a 29:8 K:BB ratio through 14.1 innings. Stephen Villines has been even better, as his three-strikeout, 1.1 inning relief appearance gives him a 17:2 K:BB ratio through 11.2 innings. Villines needs a promotion to Double-A immediately, and probably deserves a shot in the major league bullpen before too long. Finally, Jeremy Vasquez extended his franchise-record on-base streak to 18 games with hits in both ends of the doubleheader. He’s not really a prospect, but it’s a fun bit of success for a relatively unknown player.

Photo credit: Jeff Curry – USA Today Sports