KEITH: I TRIED TO SAVE MATT
Called Boras to help Harvey, but ‘arrogant’ ex-Met wouldn’t listen
Keith Hernandez tried to be a superhero and save the Dark Knight, but to no avail.
The legendary Mets first baseman and SNY color commentator told WFAN’s “Boomer and Gio” show on Wednesday that he reached out to Matt Harvey’s agent, Scott Boras, to express concern for the former Mets star and try to steer him back on track.
Boras, who represented Hernandez at the end of his career, had no solutions, though, and seemingly gave up on Harvey.
“I called Scott, I said, ‘Scott, you gotta pull the reins on this guy, because he’s gonna make it tough on himself,’” said Hernandez. “He goes, ‘Keith, I can’t, he’s gonna do — he’s his own guy — he’s gonna do what he’s gonna do.”
Hernandez did not disclose when that conversation took place. He also added that Harvey made a lot of enemies and had a “tough relationship” with GM Sandy Alderson, speculating whether or not he intentionally pitched himself out of town when he was demoted to the bullpen.
“I almost thought when he was pitching, the way I was watching him out of the bullpen that, ‘Gosh, is he pitching himself off this team?’” Hernandez said.
Alderson ultimately shipped Harvey to the Reds last week after he refused a minorleague assignment.
“He was confrontational with Sandy,” he said. “They had a tough relationship. Matt was arrogant and, you know what, you meet the same people on the way up, you meet ’em on the way down, too.”
Hernandez is certainly familiar with the fame and success that comes with playing in New York. He and his 1986 World Series teammates embraced the limelight, but he pointed out if you want to act like a star, you have to perform like one, too.
“You can do all those things if you’re a star player. Steve Carlton did not talk to the press most of his career, in Philadelphia where they’re tough, but 300-something wins they left him alone,” he said. “Perform at a certain level — the highest level if you’re gonna do the things Matt did. I think he put the cart before the horse. I think he wanted to be the next Joe Namath.”
Harvey’s behavior and attitude issues were no secret during his days in Flushing, which in one instance prompted the Mets to suspend him three games last season for failing to show up to a game. But Hernandez ultimately believes Harvey lost his way following his Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery.
“It’s something very serious, he had a surgery prior to that, he’s not the same pitcher,” said Hernandez. “He lost his fastball, not the same bite as his slider, and like so many pitchers today, they’re scouting the guy who could throw 98 mph . ... When these guys lose it, they don’t know how to pitch. They have to pitch the corners now.” DAILY NEWS/AP
Chris Granozio admits that the Bob Murphy impersonation his Mets colleague was doing February 16 in a Citi Field control room was “vulgar,” but Granozio says that the colleague’s shtick was no worse than any “Saturday Night Live” skit.
And since Granozio says he and his colleague were joking around in what they thought was the privacy of a vacant room at the Flushing ballpark, there was no danger of offending anyone. But a female Mets employee was listening in an adjacent room without Granozio and his colleague knowing, Granozio says, and he adds that he and his colleague were terminated by the Mets a short time later, after he claims the female employee recorded them on her cell phone and turned over the audio clip to the team’s human resources department.
Granozio – who was a full-time employee for the team from 1997-2004 and who has been a part-time Mets employee since 2006 working as a scoreboard operator, writer and producer – says his attorney, Jeffrey Dubin, plans to file a complaint with the New York City Human Rights Commission Thursday claiming discrimination played a role in his termination.
“My colleague does amazing impressions, and the one he does of Bob Murphy is uncanny,” Granozio told the Daily News Wednesday, referring to the late Mets announcer known for his “happy recap” phrase. “This time, my colleague was doing a fake promotion in Murphy’s voice. We decided to go to a secure room and have fun with it. You need card access to rooms (at Citi Field) and we went into the vacant control room.
“My colleague (Granozio says the colleague wants to remain anonymous) started saying in Murphy’s voice, ‘It’s P---y Day at Shea, and we’re having a P---y Day Parade around the warning track, where I’ll be the judge. You can parade around and show your p---y.’ He started doing the riff and I laughed and encouraged him to do more. That’s all I did, was laugh. We had no idea someone else was listening.”
Granozio, 53, says a week later, his colleague was fired. The Mets then called Granozio in, and he says he was told he had violated company policy and that the team had evidence of Granozio and his colleague speaking inappropriately.
“I handed over my ID and parking pass. I asked in my exit interview, ‘Is there anything