Palladino: Harvey's Struggles Should Have Mets Greatly Concerned
By Ernie Palladino
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The scary thing about the Mets is not their sub-.500 record.
It's April, after all. A lot of teams start slow. The Yankees, for example, are also in the midst of some early-season struggles. Fourteen other teams went into Sunday's games with losing records, and most of them came out of that day in the same statistical condition.
Something seems different with the Mets, however. Perhaps it relates to their pre-2015 history when little went right outside the pitcher's mound. Whatever the case, some clouds appear to hang over Terry Collins' team right now.
And Matt Harvey's problems represent the blackest of them.
It could certainly dissipate for an offense that has started to hit home runs, but has done little else. But for the Mets to really take off, they need their No. 1 ace to get right, get to his pre-Tommy John effectiveness.
Whatever is going on with Harvey is not good. At this point, with the hard-throwing right-hander floundering at 0-3 with a 5.71 ERA, the Mets as a whole would benefit from a quick turnaround there, especially in light of 1A ace Jacob deGrom's indefinite absence as he ministers to his ailing newborn.
But even when deGrom gets back -- pray soon, with a little boy returned to health and the full, bright future all babies deserve -- Harvey is the one the Mets are counting on to lead their staff. And he can't do that the way he's pitching now.
It's not just one or two bad innings, a seeing-eye hit here or there, a 3-2 pitch that another umpire might have called a strike. His issues appear more systemic, a combination of the mental and the mechanical.
Saturday's 7-5 loss in which Harvey allowed five runs over the fifth and sixth innings and left Raphael Montero to get out of a bases-loaded jam, indicated as much. The nasty slider, a vital part of his four-pitch repertoire, was for some reason nowhere to be found. He went at the Indians primarily with the fastball and changeup. Once Cleveland started catching up with the fastball after his perfect 4 1/3 innings, he failed to alter his approach.
Pitching coach Danny Warthen told MLB.com writer Anthony DiComo that much of Harvey's issues over this entire start have to do with his inefficiency with runners on base. Something happens when he pitches out of the stretch.
He falls back into bad habits, Warthen said.
The mechanics fall apart, the pitching coach indicated.
Why it happens is the mystery. The Harvey of 2013 was not only dominant in the windup, but could seemingly get himself out of any jam that presented itself. Even last season, his first year back from surgery, he could make do.
Yet, this year has been different. His ERA has soared from 1.00 over the first three innings to 10.80 over the next three.
What started as a slow spring training has turned into a genuine problem. A 1-2, 7.50 mark in four Florida appearances was easily passed off as a function of getting back into pitching form. It mattered little that opponents hit .302 off him, or that his nine walks placed him second among starters behind Steven Matz's 13.
All would straighten itself out when Harvey got down to the real business of the regular season.
It hasn't.
The strikeouts haven't come in the tight situations. Nine Ks in three games is simply not Harvey, especially the Harvey everybody knows with men on base.
Opening night in Kansas City saw him get beat on a fourth-inning sacrifice fly, followed in the sixth by Alex Gordon's solid single and Omar Infante's bounce single through the infield.
Not horrible. But not Harvey, either.
Then came Philly. Odubel Herrera took him deep for two runs on a 1-2 pitch with one out in the sixth, dropping the Mets into a 3-0 hole.
And then there was Saturday's collapse in Cleveland. A walk produced a fateful crack with one out in the fifth. With two out and an 0-2 count on Jose Ramirez, Harvey missed ringing him up by a hair, after which Ramirez pounded a run-scoring double over Alejandro De Aza's head in center. Juan Uribe finished the inning with a sharp RBI single to left.
The sixth was perfectly horrible. No cheapies there, either, as a no-out double and a pair of one-out singles scored three runs. Harvey threw a wild pitch in there, too, and saw Rajai Davis steal on him.
Hoping Harvey would settle down, Collins stuck with him.
The Dark Knight never did appear. A walk to Uribe loaded the bases, and the manager finally came and got him.
The .308 opponents BA is ugly. The 1.56 WHIP sits 41 points higher than that of his rookie season.
Something is wrong with Harvey.
Until it gets figured out, the Harvey's troubles will remain the most menacing of the storm clouds hovering over the Mets.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino
