Matt Harvey deserves his own thread, 2015

[batmagadanleadoff]

New Met Michael Cuddyer gets on the Harvey bandwagon. For extra credit, locate where Cuddyer offends one of his current teammates.


New Met Michael Cuddyer buying into the Matt Harvey hype
BY Kristie Ackert
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, April 9, 2015, 11:21 PM

WASHINGTON � Michael Cuddyer noticed that Matt Harvey was a very confident young pitcher when he faced him two years ago. Thursday, the veteran outfielder said that he has really grown to like his new teammate, who is now the Mets ace. But Cuddyer had to laugh a little about the hype surrounding what has come to be called Harvey Day. �I�ve never seen a pitcher have his own day when he pitched,� the new Mets left fielder said with a chuckle. �I think it�s a combination of a lot of things: obviously his talent, the success he has had quickly and, well, he kind of likes it.� �It�s different, the buzz,� the veteran outfielder said. �I played obviously with Johan (Santana in Minnesota), a two-time Cy Young winner, and should have been three-time Cy Young, and everybody was excited when he pitched, but the level wasn�t quite this. �I don�t know if it�s New York compared to Minnesota, but hey, baseball is fun. You are supposed to have fun, so I kind of like it, too.� Cuddyer got his first RBI as a Met on Thursday in their 6-3 win over the Nationals. Cuddyer�s RBI single in the third contributed to a four-run inning. He said he liked playing behind Harvey. �He�s a lot of fun to play behind; there�s definitely a buzz,� Cuddyer said. �I like him . . . a lot. I like his persona on the field. I like his demeanor, I noticed that as a visiting player first, but it�s a calm confidence. He doesn�t show anybody up. He is not egotistical. But when he is out there you know he feels like he is in control. It�s a calm confidence.� With a four-run lead, Terry Collins handed the ball to interim closer Jeurys Familia in the ninth inning just to give him a chance to get comfortable. �He�s got to get used to being out there in the ninth inning,� Collins said. �I don�t care what the score is. I told (pitching coach Dan Warthen) he�s got to pitch tonight.� It was a rocky beginning for Familia, who normally pitches the eighth inning. He gave up a leadoff double to Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond and then a two-out single to Reed Johnson to score Desmond. He finally closed the door by getting Michael Taylor to fly out to center. Familia will get the majority of closing calls while Jenrry Mejia is out with inflammation in his elbow. Mejia was placed on the 15-day disabled list after getting a cortisone shot on Tuesday. MINOR DEVELOPMENTS Bobby Parnell (Tommy John rehab) and Vic Black (shoulder) will pitch in minor-league games within the next two days, GM Sandy Alderson said. ... Travis d�Arnaud, who went 5-for-11 in this series with four RBI, said he was excited about catching Harvey on Thursday. �It�s only the second time I caught him in a game,� d�Arnaud said. �I caught him in my (major-league) debut and then he got hurt. It�s fun.� ... Alex Torres had a forgettable Mets debut. The lefty reliever walked two in one-third of an inning and was responsible for two runs.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/met-insider-cuddyer-buying-harvey-hype-article-1.2180183

[Guest themetfairy]

[batmagadanleadoff]

Megdal, referencing Madoff by noting how no one's talking about him, on Harvey's Citi Field debut:

Harvey returns, and Citi Field sounds like Shea
By Howard Megdal 7:51 a.m. | Apr. 15, 2015

The Mets fans in blue Matt Harvey jerseys starting gathering in a Citi Field parking lot a little before 3 p.m., drinking and dreaming. A workday could not prevent many people from extending the experience of Harvey's first home start of 2015. And though Harvey was far from perfect in his return to the same mound where he started an all star game in 2013, something more significant washed over the 39,489 who ventured to the game, an absurd 6-5 victory for the Mets that ended with two Mets regulars out due to injury and a catcher playing third base. Harvey allowed Citi Field to sound and feel like Shea Stadium, a place where Mets fans were often disappointed but never quite so fatalistic as they became following a pair of late-season collapses, a place where the name "Madoff" was never uttered anywhere outside the owner's box, and where the Mets were a baseball team, not a financial cautionary tale. That is the magic of Matt Harvey, and why the Mets are so right to focus so much of their marketing effort on him. Harvey, instantly excellent when most pitchers struggle to adjust to the major leagues. Harvey, even better in his second season. Harvey, somehow with better command and a new pitch following Tommy John surgery this spring. And so, the Mets' promotional plan revolves around Harvey like an everyday player. Harvey pitching Tuesday. A Harvey t-shirt giveaway Friday night. Harvey pitching again Sunday. If the Mets could get away with using him to close Wednesday and play shortstop Saturday, they would, as long as they could also advertise it. And after all the injuries Tuesday night, maybe they will. But Harvey does what no player since Carlos Beltran took the called strike that ended the 2006 season could do: he makes Mets fans forget about the losing, and the debt, and the broken promises of ownership. Matt Harvey makes believers of those who watch him. Even with many fans stuck behind the metal detectors that delay entry to Major League Baseball's parks in 2015, the roar that went up when Harvey took the mound to begin the game had no precedent at the new ballpark, now in its seventh season. Even the highlights of the intervening seasons�R.A. Dickey's Cy Young run, Johan Santana's no-hitter�didn't quite put the team's reduced circumstances out of anybody's mind. It was a diversion, not a path. And Harvey, too, may be just that. But when he pitches, rising to every occasion, the possibility of pairing Harvey with something more important than an exhibition all star game, or a midyear subway series game against the Yankees, or an effort to sell more tickets to the second home game of 2015 is impossible to put out of one's mind. Fans stood and cheered Harvey for the entirety of his warmups, for the first pitch�a strike, naturally�and the loud Harvey chants in a half-full Citi Field boomed louder than any of the few sellout crowds in the building's history. A strikeout, then another. All things seemed possible. The analogue in orange and blue is Dwight Gooden, who never actually pitched a no-hitter for the Mets, and Nolan Ryan, who didn't either, but eventually tallied seven. Don't believe me? Ask Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg, now Phillies manager, who threw out a comparison to those two when describing how his hitters should prepare for Harvey prior to the game. Chase Utley ended perfect game dreams with a home run into the right field stands, a place he's never struggled to reach at Citi Field, but fans didn't boo. Rather, they were shocked, as if the feat itself had been an optical illusion. No matter�Harvey followed with a strikeout of Ryan Howard, who's made a career of hitting right-handed pitchers, with a 98 mile per hour fastball. For Harvey on this night, it was more about battles than dominance. The Phillies scored again off Harvey in the second and fourth. Phillies pitcher David Buchanan hit a pair of Mets, and Harvey responded, with one pitch planted in Utley's back that brought the crowd to its feet once again, the "Harvey! Harvey!" chants louder than before. Terry Collins was ejected from the game. Everything felt like it mattered in a way few things have since the Mets commenced their six losing seasons at their new home. There's been a reserve in Mets fans, especially in the new building, that the circumstances of the team has exacerbated. Impact players, whether Jose Reyes or Carlos Beltran or R.A. Dickey, were mostly evaluated in terms of when they'd be leaving. Seasons were endured with hopes of winters to add to the lacking talent base. Most stayed away. Harvey was a beacon within those times, but now he is a pitcher on a team that's given fans the most reason to hope of any in the Citi Field era. This is not some problem with the building�ask Mets fans of a certain age how Shea Stadium sounded in 1979. And typically, downtrodden franchises require success for this transition. Matt Harvey, at least for now, allows Mets fans to believe each time he takes the mound that this transition has already happened. And on a night when a pair of Mets left due to injury, Michael Cuddyer and franchise icon David Wright, the celebration continued late into the night, even when Anthony Recker, a catcher, was forced into his first professional action at third base. The crowd had thinned out by then, Harvey departing after six innings, the rest of the Mets not quite so compelling yet. But not even a home run by Jeff Francoeur could draw out the boos. This from a fan base that in recent years booed Aaron Heilman preemptively when he'd go 2-0 on a hitter. Nor could the departure of Wright, who voluntarily left the game, dampen spirits, at least in the crowd. Considering Wright played a month with a broken back several years ago, and played most of 2014 with a severe shoulder injury, that was a bad sign, one Collins called "a major problem" after the game. "If it wasn't major, David Wright wouldn't open his mouth," Collins said with a mixture of regret and pride. Still, if Wright was down, what was striking as well was how disappointed both Collins and Harvey himself sounded about a start in which Harvey allowed only three runs over six innings, didn't walk a batter, and struck out eight. "Everyone in this room has had an adrenaline rush at some point, at some time," Collins said. "And it beats you down. From all the hype and stuff he's been through, there has to be a letdown. There has to [be] at some point...I've had too many great pitchers tell me, the first start's easy, the second start's hard. Tonight, we saw with one of the best pitchers in the game, that the second one was hard." Or as a low-key Harvey said to reporters when it was all finished, "It's not like I'm not ever going to give up a run."

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/04/8566032/harvey-returns-and-citi-field-sounds-shea

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

He waited until the third paragraph? We're making progress.

[MFS62]

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: He waited until the third paragraph? We're making progress.

Woodward, Bernstein and Capote didn't keep writing about the same crimes over and over. And he probably thinks of himself among them.
Too bad Police Gazette isn't still around. He would have been a perfect writer for them.

Later

[Guest d'Kong76]

Harvelous has minor foot issues he's been pitching through
according to multiple sources.

[Edgy MD]

With a good Mets team on a tear and possibly on the verge of a gilded era, is there even a market for Megdal's scandalmongering act anymore?

[Guest d'Kong76]

Wasn't aware he was the root of the story.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Ah, you weren't talking to me and about the foot thing.
Never mind.

[Gwreck]

Edgy MD wrote: With a good Mets team on a tear and possibly on the verge of a gilded era, is there even a market for Megdal's scandalmongering act anymore?

Actually, as Megdal - and many others - have said, winning is exactly what the Mets have needed to put this behind them. Win games and nobody needs to talk about the Wilpons' finances.

Keep it rolling, Mets!

[Guest d'Kong76]

Still, can't let Meg entirely off the hook for pushing the
Mad envelope or for Mag (here) for pushing it too. A lot.

[Edgy MD]

Gwreck wrote: Edgy MD wrote: With a good Mets team on a tear and possibly on the verge of a gilded era, is there even a market for Megdal's scandalmongering act anymore? Actually, as Megdal - and many others - have said, winning is exactly what the Mets have needed to put this behind them. Win games and nobody needs to talk about the Wilpons' finances. Keep it rolling, Mets!

Yeah, Megdal's a real prophet.

[Guest themetfairy]

[Guest themetfairy]

Jon Stewart's interview of Harvey on last night's episode of The Daily Show was very entertaining.

[Centerfield]

He didn't seem douchy at all.

Of course, Jon Stewart did most of the talking, maybe knowing that if he let him ramble on, the douchiness would ooze out.

[Lefty Specialist]

Loved the pillow and miniature police barriers for his arm.