In this season that has resembled a mixture of the Big Apple Circus and the Oregon Trail, it’s nice to have a couple of days straight with good news. Maybe it’s because it was a holiday weekend, but the abundance of starting pitching might finally be bubbling over.
For Matt Harvey on Sunday, it was about continuing to recover from off-season surgery, and fixing his mechanics so he could reacquire the bite on his slider. Harvey gave up six hits and only walked two in six innings against the Pirates on Sunday to lead the team to a relatively drama free 7-2 Mets victory. While it’s still too early to proclaim Matt Harvey to be “back”, 67 strikes in 102 pitches is certainly an incremental improvement from previous ratios. There’s still plenty of work to be done. After all, it was exactly one year ago that we had the same conversation about him. But at least we’ll now always have the image of Harvey topping off a high end casual outfit with a ten dollar crown:
Matt Harvey said he didn't think he'd get to wear the Mets' crown (for player of the game in a win) all season. pic.twitter.com/v7IBPdTAJO
— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) May 29, 2017
It wasn’t all peaches and cream on Sunday night, as we got to see Paul Sewald, an increasingly dependable option out of the bullpen, pitch with a 7-1 lead just days after Neil Ramirez and his ERA over ten pitch with a one run lead in the seventh inning. But incredibly, it was a pattern that just might be rectified.
Robert Gsellman’s spot in the rotation is in jeopardy. He hasn’t been good, and Steven Matz and Seth Lugo are getting closer to returning. (Matz threw five perfect innings in a Pacific Coast League rehab start.) But Gsellman’s renaissance is about keeping his pitches away from the middle of the plate. He did that against the Brewers, the same team who smacked him around at Miller Park. On Monday, after a couple of cameos out of the bullpen, he went seven innings, gave up one earned run, and even drove in two runs on a sac fly and a bases loaded walk built on the foundation of bad umpiring by CB Bucknor (better you than us, Milwaukee.) This all led to a 4-2 Mets win over Milwaukee.
I’m not sure what’s more amazing: That Gsellman went seven or that Terry Collins let him go seven. Or that Sewald came into Monday’s game with a one run lead instead of with a mop and a bucket filled with water and pet friendly liquid soap. It’s almost as if God called off the litany of arm problems and Terry’s special brand of bullpen management for the holiday. The only thing we weren’t spared is Addison Reed getting hit hard in the ninth and that goofy look on his face that says “Hey, I got away with another one.”
But I’ll live with that. As long as the Mets keep getting acceptable starting pitching to get them to Reed’s three outs of mayhem and mischief.
Today’s Hate List
In honor of Bryce Harper’s free for all, instead of a hate list I give you a moment of zen:
NEAR
FAR
WHEREVER YOU ARE pic.twitter.com/kU9COniwqc
— Freddie Benson (@DeeH_NYC) May 30, 2017
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