FISH FOOD: Matt Harvey looks on during Sunday’s start in Miami, where he allowed four runs and 10 hits over five innings in a no-decision. The right-hander’s two shortest starts this season have come against the Marlins — the only two starts this season Harvey has not pitched at least six innings. (
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WASHINGTON — Matt Harvey wants a win tonight, but also considers it important the Marlins are the opponent.
The Mets ace had barely finished his performance in Miami on Sunday when he started considering his scheduled start tonight at Citi Field. That is how Harvey rolls. The Marlins had frustrated him, and now there was payback to consider.
“That’s the kind of person I am,” Harvey said before last night’s game against the Nationals was postponed. “If I don’t have a great start I’m always excited to get out there and do better. Especially being against the same team, it’s something I’m looking forward to.”
Harvey lasted only five innings against the Marlins on Sunday and surrendered four runs on 10 hits in the no-decision. By just about any standard, it was Harvey’s worst performance of the season.
But there was also a start against the Marlins on April 29 in which Harvey needed 121 pitches just to survive 5 1/3 innings in a game he allowed one run and the Mets lost in the 15th.
The fireballer will take a 5-0 record and 2.17 ERA into tonight. He hasn’t won a game in almost three weeks.
“It’s a function of what’s going on,” manager Terry Collins said, referring to the team’s anemic offensive production. “He should have nine [wins]. He doesn’t, so he’s got to keep pitching well.”
Harvey shouldn’t be the only player hungry for payback after last weekend’s embarrassing three-game Marlins sweep. The Mets had entered that series ecstatic from beating the Yankees in four straight.
Collins doesn’t doubt Harvey will use Sunday’s shaky performance as motivation for tonight.
“He always has something to prove,” Collins said. “That’s just what motivates him, so [tonight] he’s saying, ‘I’ve got to pitch better.’ He’s pitched against them twice and had tough times with them both times. I know he wants to step it up.”
Though the Marlins didn’t hit Harvey particularly hard in the last matchup — he was the victim of two bloop hits that helped Miami grab a 3-0 lead in the first inning — that is of little consequence to the right-hander, who places winning at the top of his job description.
“I’m always going to be negative on myself if we don’t win one and if I give up runs, so I just know I have to be better,” Harvey said. “It’s the person I’ve always been and if I don’t do well against a certain team I’m excited to get back out there and get better against them the next time.”
With top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler on the verge of promotion from Triple-A Las Vegas, Harvey is aware this could be an exciting time in the franchise’s history. But Harvey wants the focus kept on improvement and not just generating buzz.
“Everybody has been throwing the ball pretty well up here, so we know if [Wheeler] can come up and help the team, that’s what is best for the team,” Harvey said. “I haven’t really been keeping up with too much of what he’s been doing down there. We’re up here trying to win, so if they feel he’s ready and can come up here and help, then bring him up.”