Francesa: Mets' Harvey Should Learn From Colon's Example
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Bartolo Colon's performance Monday night should inspire Matt Harvey to snap out of his funk, WFAN's Mike Francesa said Tuesday.
After struggling with his control against the Nationals last week, Colon, the Mets' now 43-year-old starter, bounced back with a masterful performance in Washington on Tuesday, allowing one run and five hits over seven innings in a 7-1 victory.
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"Harvey sat there and watched this last night, and I would think if he had his brain open, what he saw was a veteran guy coming off a very poor performance and what he did was give you a vintage performance last night," Francesa said at the start of his show.
"He (Colon) came off a game where he didn't look good. He was missing. He walked guys. People were worried. 'What is this about? Here's this great control pitcher.' It's a tough spot. Gio Gonzalez had been throwing great. And what he did is, after not looking like the first inning was going to be great, after that he put forth a virtuoso seven innings. That's what a pro is. That is the epitome of a pro."
Harvey enters Tuesday night's game against the Nationals with a 3-6 record and 5.77 ERA. In his last outing, Thursday against Washington at Citi Field, Harvey allowed nine runs (six earned) and eight hits in 2 2/3 innings.
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"I don't have to go through the litany of what's going on (with Harvey)," Francesa said. "We all know what's going on. The question now is, what's ahead? He comes off a performance that had to be not only earth shattering for him, had to be painful, had to be tough for him to walk off that mound to a chorus of boos down 9-1 against the Nationals. Just absolutely mortified to be knocked out of a game and beat up that way.
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"You want to see right now what is in Harvey's character, what's in his core. How tough is he right now?"
Washington will send Stephen Strasburg (7-0, 2.80 ERA) to the mound.
The Nationals (27-18) lead the Mets (26-18) by a half-game.
To listen to the full segment, click on the audio player above.
