New York Daily News

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Harvey takes hill tonight as

- KRISTIE ACKERT

WASHINGTON — Matt Harvey walked out of the visitors’ clubhouse at Nationals Park Saturday looking forward to Sunday night. The Mets righthande­r was not concerned about the forecast of cold weather or the idea of facing a team that has had his and the Mets’ number over the last few years.

There is conviction and confidence brewing in this clubhouse as Harvey tries to complete the Mets’ first sweep of the Nationals since August 2015. That sweep at Citi Field propelled the Mets on to the National League East title and a World Series run.

And why shouldn’t the 6-1 team be confident? Everything is coming up Mets right now and new manager Mickey Callaway seemingly cannot make a bad decision.

Saturday, even Steven Matz, who looked so shaky in his first start of the year in Flushing against the Cardinals, came up with five strong innings in a 3-2 win over the Nationals in a brutally cold game at Nationals Park.

“He had a lot more confidence and total conviction,” Callaway said of Matz holding the Nationals to one unearned run. “You can see it in the way he released the ball. He did a great job making that adjustment.”

The Mets’ ability to bounce back and counterpun­ch is definitely brewing some of this confidence. They twice battled back from behind for the win.

Todd Frazier, whose error allowed the Nationals to eventually score the unearned run against Matz, personifie­d that resilience Saturday. After his throwing error led to the first run of the game in the fifth, the Mets’ third baseman came out and banged a double in the top of the sixth. He scored on Travis d’Arnaud’s single to tie the game.

“We build off each other. Somebody gets on, get somebody in scoring position. (Amed Rosario) had a nice single up the middle, got us going a little bit,” Frazier said. “I had the double, (Asdrubal Cabrera) with the double, everything just kind of builds off each other, the excitement grows, these kind of games we grind it out.”

The Mets are hoping to see that confidence grow in the pitching as well.

Matz and Harvey were two of the biggest question marks the Mets had coming into 2018.

The lefty from Long Island with a long injury history was shut down early last year to have the ulnar nerve in his elbow moved. Matz’s struggles continued into this spring; his first two starts were brutal, before he finished strong. So his first start of the season was an unpleasant surprise.

“This is the thing, his sides have been really good, after his second spring training start he went to work on that. You saw how he pitched his last four starts, really good,” Mets pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “His warm up before the game the other day were really, really good. Then he went out in the game, he just wasn’t finishing his pitches over his front leg.”

Saturday, Matz finished his pitches, pounded the lower half of the strike zone, worked his way upstairs when he needed to and was dominant for four innings. He held the Nationals to three hits and one unearned run over five innings. He struck out eight, including five in a row after a leadoff single to Trea Turner

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