The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Harvey misses Mets’ workout
NEWYORK>> Matt Harvey is off to a horrendous start in his first postseason.
The star pitchermissed a mandatory New York Mets workout Tuesday at Citi Field and apologized to the teamfor arriving late. Harvey did not give a reason for his absence when he spoke to reporters about 15 minutes after practice ended. He did not take questions, either.
“I just screwed up,” Harvey said.
Mets manager Terry Collins told reporters Harvey called and said he got stuck in traffic. Later, Collins told Newsday and the New York Post that when Harvey showed up, he said he had lost track of time.
Whatever the reason, captain David Wright definitely sounded annoyed.
“It’s about the guys that are here. And the guys that are here, we had a great workout,” Wright said. “So you will have to talk to Matt about that.”
New York opens its NL playoff series against the Dodgers on Friday night in Los Angeles. Collins told reporters Harvey will be fined but remains scheduled to start Game 3 at Citi Field next Monday.
Harvey was not on the field as the Mets went through drills fromaround noon to 2 p.m. General manager Sandy Alderson initially said he didn’t know why Harvey was absent.
“Obviously, today was not the greatest. I know we had a mandatory workout. And the last thing I ever want to do is not be here for my team,” Harvey said. “Basically, there’s no excuse. I screwed up. I wasn’t here. I showed up a little late.”
Harvey’s agent, Scott Boras, also was in the dark at first. He told The Associated Press by phone he wasn’t sure why his client wasn’t at the workout.
“I’ve talked to Sandy and I’ve talked to Terry andmy teammates and apologized to them and apologized to everybody,” Harvey said, wearing sweats and aMets cap while seated in front of a microphone.
“They understand I’m here to get my workout in and be with the team. Unfortunately today, I screwed up. So there’s not really anything else to say. They know what happened and I told everybody and apologized to everybody, told them it’s not going to happen again. It’s never happened before and unfortunately it happened kind of at a bad time.”
Harvey’s time in New York has been anything but drama-free.
The right-hander was panned last month during a ruckus over his workload on the mound in his first season back from Tommy John surgery. He finished 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA in 29 starts and 189 1-3 innings, surpassing the 180-inning limit Boras said doctors recommended.
In other news Tuesday, rookie left-hander Steven Matz had a successful bullpen session and is headed to Florida to pitch a simulated game Thursday in the instructional league. The plan is for himto throw9095 pitches, Alderson said.