Colon, DeGrom Reportedly Get Nods For Mets' Openers; Harvey No. 3
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It looks like the Amazin's are putting age before Harvey.
Bartolo Colon will get the start on opening day for the New York Mets with returning ace Matt Harvey slated to pitch the third game of the season in Washington, according to ESPN.com.
Jacob deGrom, the National League's reigning Rookie of the Year, will take the hill in Game 2 against the Nationals, ESPN.com reported. That lines up the 26-year-old right-hander to start the team's home opener against Philadelphia at Citi Field on April 13.
WFAN co-host Craig Carton believes the Mets are saving Harvey's regular-season return from Tommy John surgery for a game that wouldn't otherwise sell out.
"What the Mets are doing is so pathetically transparent," he said to open Monday's "Boomer & Carton" show.
Carton On Harvey, Mets' Rotation
Colon will be 41 years and 317 days old when he faces Washington on April 6, which would put him in the record books as New York's oldest opening day starter ever, according to ESPN.com. Tom Glavine was 41 years and 7 days old when he got the nod in 2007, the website reported.
Colon went 15-13 with a 4.09 ERA and 151 strikeouts in 202.1 innings in 2014. DeGrom went 9-6 with a 2.69 ERA and gave up only seven home runs in 140.1 innings en route to Rookie of the Year honors.
"We had a Rookie of the Year. We had a guy that made 33 starts. We had another guy that went 200 innings and is a good teammate," pitching coach Dan Warthen said when asked about the Mets' rotation earlier this month, before losing Zack Wheeler for the season. "Matt will say the same thing: 'I'm a good teammate. I plan on being the No. 1 guy for many years to come, but right now I'm probably not the one that is deserving (for opening day).'"
Harvey, who started the 2013 All-Star Game for the National League, hasn't missed a beat with his surgically reconstructed elbow. The 25-year-old allowed just two hits in 5.2 scoreless innings against the New York Yankees on Sunday, lowering his spring ERA to 1.26. He has 12 strikeouts and only one walk in 14.1 innings (four starts).
"We're always going to be internally competing with each other and trying to keep streaks going," Harvey told WFAN's Ed Coleman before Sunday's 6-0 win. "If two guys throw well, then the third guy is obviously going to want to go out and, in hockey terms, have a shutout."
Harvey was shut down with a partially torn ligament in August 2013 and underwent surgery in October.
