Mets: Matt Harvey needs to take responsibility for his poor performances

It was after Tuesday’s game when Harvey made some comments that may seem harmless to some people, but also represented how Harvey has become out of touch.

In a downcast locker-room following the loss, Harvey said Tuesday’s start “was the best I felt in a long time” and also was quoted as saying “I could throw the ball the way I wanted to.” Most importantly, Harvey stated, “I felt like it was coming out better than it had for a few years.”

In some ways, I agree with what Harvey was probably trying to say, but the way he said it sounded totally off base. In other words, I believe it’s important that he has regained his ability to control the baseball and that he felt it was coming out better after the surgery last year. As Harvey himself said, he struggled with that most basic function when he was enduring the injury last year.

It’s also a welcome sign that his velocity is ticking up because that was also a concern early in the season. In all fairness to Harvey, the rest of his postgame comments did illustrate him taking some responsibility for not being able to pitch well enough to put the team in a chance to win yesterday.

But for Harvey, the results haven’t been there and there’s no other way around that. Most Mets fans don’t need to hear about whether you think you made “adjustments” or the ball “was feeling better coming out of your hand tonight.” What the Mets need right now is quality outings from Harvey to fill the gaping hole in their starting rotation. And there’s no other way to explain these last two outings as anything but real obstacles to a team that already struggles to score enough runs to win a ballgame.

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While I still try to remain optimistic about this team, it is vital that this pitching staff find somebody who they can rally around and get them to step up. Part of that requires the pitchers taking some form of responsibility for those results, whether or not they are good. Harvey needs to heed that advice and soon!