Velocity dips in Met victory
“Matt’s arm is fatigued. After the third inning I had (pitching coach) Dan (Warthen) check with him. He said his arm felt tired, but no discomfort. He said ‘I am OK. I am using my other pitches, but there’s nothing coming out.’ I asked him after the next inning, and I just said we have had enough issues here and took him out.
“Obviously when you send him out there, we didn’t need it to get any worse,” Collins said. “We’ll wait to see what happens.”
Harvey said his arm just felt tired during the game.
“My arm was just not working at all,” Harvey said. “In past games it’s taken awhile to get loose and get warm, obviously since the surgery that’s been the issue, but tonight it felt like it got loose and it just progressively felt really tired.”
With the three home runs that Harvey gave up on Wednesday, he has now allowed 16 in 70.1 innings. He allowed eight in 92.2 innings last season and is two shy of the 18 he gave up in 189.1 innings in 2015.
But home runs are up across the Mets pitching staff this season. The real concern for Harvey was the velocity. He hit 94 early on and then it went down from there.
“I looked up a few times and saw 86, 87 on the fastball. Not ideal and not something I am used to,” Harvey said. “I think the last time I threw 87 on a fastball, I was freshman year in high school.”
So Thursday morning, Harvey was heading to the doctor looking for some answers or reassurance. some hope for a comeback in the NL East, as the Nationals have lost five of six games, mostly because of bullpen problems that have players grumbling about management’s lack of commitment to building a championship team, according to a story on Wednesday in the Washington Post.
The Mets are still a mile back, or 8½ games to be precise. Yet suddenly they are playing as if they think they can catch the Nats, no matter the obstacles. EPA