His system
backward if he shuts them down when he’s angry, or simply has the urge
And how long will the organization allow Harvey to starve the messenger in order to keep its No. 1 starter happy?
Of course the great equalizer for Harvey is his performance on the mound. If he is dominant he can continue shutting out the media, whenever he pleases, and get away with it.
Under those circumstances he just becomes an uncooperative jerk, following the blueprint of Steve Carlton, the Hall of Famer. But if he finds himself not living up to high expectations, chances are those memories of Harvey’s beginnings, his swagger, will become distant.
Then Harvey will know what it’s like living with a media target on his back. It will start Sunday night. Unless they are totally vacant, ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” crew will make Harvey a big part of its opening-night story line. And it won’t be all about a flashback to Game 5.
So it would be in Harvey’s best interests — and those of the Mets organization — to get back on track with the reporters covering the team. Do it with some humor — self-deprecating, of course, — and sincerity. For the alternative ain’t pretty.
Hanging the media out to dry Wednesday was the act of someone who is selfish and has lost perspective. Perhaps it is just a temporary loss. Still, Matt Harvey made this whole situation, which actually had a happy ending, bigger than it had to be.
And that’s sad.
NPORT ST. LUCCIEC LUCIE — Ap Apparently annoyed that his health scare waas was mocked and turned into bathroom humor on the back page pages and in the headlines back in New York, MetsM Mets Ope Opening Day starter Matt Harvey declined to speaks speak to the media after pitching on Wednesday.
“I don’t blamme blame him,” T Terry Collins told the Daily News Wednesdday. Wednesday. “Nob “Nobody in here blames him. We were scared Monday. Mooonday. YouYo know how scary it is when they are talkingg talking about h having to decide in 24 hours what kind of prrrocedure procedure they would have to do to remove the clottclot if it didn didn’t pass? They were talking about the fact he wouldn wouldn’t be able to fly to New York.
“He was scared,” the manager said. “We were all scared for him. And to see everyone make a joke out of it ... yeah, he’s mad. He’s not the only one who is.”
Harvey had issues going to the bathroom and saw blood in his urine last weekend. It turned out he had a large and painful blood clot in his bladder. It passed Monday night, but one source close to Harvey had said Monday afternoon the testing was tense and . serious.
Harvey had a scope done Tuesday morning to check his bladder for damage or tumors, which can cause of blood in urine and blood clots. The scope came up clean and doctors said he was out of serious danger.
A pale and tired-looking Harvey said after he was cleared that doctors suggested the blood clot had likely formed because he did not go to the bathroom enough.
“I guess the main issue is I hold my urine in for too long instead of peeing regularly so I guess I have to retrain my bladder to use the rest room a little bit more instead of holding it in,” Harvey said Tuesday. “I guess that’s what caused the bladder infection.
“It started two days ago and through the night it was pretty painful and finally passed the blood clot. They went in and checked it out today and everything was fine.”
That led to headlines and back pages that, according to multiple team sources, upset Harvey and Collins.
Collins conceded that Harvey had opened himself up to the ridicule with his comments about holding in his urine.
“Did he say too much about going to the bathroom? Yeah maybe,” Collins said. “But the kid is hearing about procedures and blood clots one day and the next he’s getting made fun of. It’s New York, we understand that, but it was his health.” Harvey has always garnered headlines. Last season, during a controversy about his innings limit in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, Harvey had a contentious meeting with reporters and then refused to talk for a few days. He went to Derek Jeter’s website “The Players Tribune,” where he is listed as the New York City Bureau Chief, to clarify his remarks and state where he stood on innings limits and pitching in the playoffs.
The 27-year-old may have to go that route again, because Wednesday he did not exactly let his pitching do the talking. In two innings’ work, the last time he will pitch before the season opener Sunday night in Kansas City, Harvey allowed three runs on two hits, including a Ryan Zimmerman home run. He walked one and struck out two.
It was the second straight outing in which Harvey did not look sharp. He got knocked around by the Astros Thursday and said he felt out of whack mechanically. He finished the spring at 1-2 with a 7.50 ERA.
Collins said he was not too worried about Harvey’s struggles. He is waiting to see how the righthander looks on Sunday.
“I thought he threw the ball all right,” Collins said. “He got behind in the count to a couple guys, Zimmerman jumped on a first pitch, which he can do. He kills us.
“Again, you can say whatever you want, it’s still spring training,” Collins said. “We’ll worry about how he throws the ball on Sunday night.”