SEIZE THE HARVEY DAY

Matt needs to deliver in Citi return

MATT HARVEY stood on the dugout steps and just signed and signed. The controversial Mets righthander had just finished throwing and he was on his way back to the clubhouse when a young boy asked for an autograph. One led to at least 20 and as he stood there, the growing crowd was also trying to build him back up. “We’re rooting for you Matt,” one man yelled. “You can do this Harvey,” another added, “we’re pulling for you.”

Harvey just smiled, signed and pointed to the next person holding a ball and pen.

Harvey knows he has some convincing to do with Mets fans.

“I’m trying. I’m doing everything I can,” Harvey said when asked if he is trying to make amends.

Tuesday, Harvey will make his first start at Citi Field since he was suspended for three games for failing to show up at the ballpark after a night out at a New York hotspot apparently trying to forget being jilted by a model. Harvey admittedly embarrassed himself and went through a humiliating week.

Now, the organization is holding its breath to see how Harvey is greeted Tuesday, and more importantly, how he handles it.

But even more importantly, the Mets and Mets fans need him to deliver a quality start Tuesday.

After Tommy Milone failed to get out of the second inning on Sunday, the Mets’ rotation was once again exposed as fragile right now.

After the game, Terry Collins said the Mets are probably going to push Zack Wheeler back a day from his scheduled Wednesday start to give him an extra day’s rest and they might do it with Jacob deGrom, who developed a blister on his right ring finger in his last start. That means Milone, who only threw 43 pitches in Sunday’s embarrassing 12-5 loss, would come back and start on Wednesday.

“Have we pushed him too hard? I don’t think that,” Collins said of Wheeler, who missed the last two seasons rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. “We were kind of anticipating there might be a time, been so long since he pitched, he might be a little fatigued . ... He said to Dan (Warthen, the pitching coach) I could use an extra day and that made sense.”

If they decide to push back deGrom to give the blister more time to heal, the Mets would have to bring Robert Gsellman back from the already taxed bullpen.

So, Tuesday the Mets need Harvey to be past the drama and get them back on track.

Harvey is just trying to focus on fixing the pitching first.

“My (job) is to prepare and be ready for each start and help as much as I can to help this team win,” Harvey said. “In my eyes, I think fans are gonna think what they want to think regardless. Whatever it is, it’s my job to be here and to prepare for each start.”

Harvey has been where he’s supposed to be, on time, in the two weeks since the suspension. He has tried to make amends with his teammates, whose grumbles Sunday were more about reporters asking about Harvey than anything the pitcher had done since the suspension.

“This is not an issue,” one teammate said. “The fans will be fine if he pitches well and his last start was the best stuff he’s had all year.” Harvey has struggled in his return from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery, being shut down in early July 2016. He has had a hard time rediscovering his release point and mechanics. On the last road trip, Harvey flashed some of the most dominant stuff yet. His strikeout pitch to Eric Thames in Milwaukee was nasty and the six strikes he threw to Diamondbacks slugger Paul Goldschmidt were impressive. Overall, however, Harvey has not been good this season. He is 2-3 with a 5.56 ERA. He continues to try to be patient through the process. “I don’t want to try and be something I was in the past,” Harvey said. “I want to be better than that. It’s been tough not being able to do that because of kind of the search for mechanics and the injury and this and that. But after the last start and this past bullpen I really feel like I’m on my way.” Mets fans, burned out from previous dramas, have had their patience with Harvey tested over the years. Tuesday would be a good time for him to repay the fans and his teammates for that patience.