LAKELAND, Fla. — Matt Harvey still hasn’t given up on pitching this season.
With references both in print and on Twitter to “Noah Day” because of Mets fans’ excitements over the team’s latest pitching prospect, Noah Syndergaard, Harvey joined in and tweeted: “2014 Harvey Day will happen.”
Harvey began throwing two weeks ago following a four-month layoff after having Tommy John surgery on Oct. 22. He hasn’t been shy about his desire to get back on the field before the end of the season, even if the Mets aren’t in playoff contention for peace of mind going into 2015.
General manager Sandy Alderson said he didn’t follow Harvey on Twitter, but doesn’t think there’s any point in addressing the situation now.
“I can’t control what he tweets or says by other means,” Alderson said after the Mets beat the Tigers, 3-2 at Joker Marchant Stadium. “If that’s how he feels, that’s his perspective. We’ll see how it goes.”
Perhaps Alderson can’t control what Harvey says, but that tweet was deleted at some point during the day.
Alderson was asked again if Harvey’s desire to return less than a full year after the surgery could be counterproductive.
“It’s one of those never say never [things],” he said. “Are the probabilities with him? Everybody’s different. It’s not even the middle of March. Let’s wait til July to address the question again.”
Ruben Tejada certainly hasn’t impressed anyone this spring training — or in the past year, for that matter — but Alderson took it easy on the beleaguered shortstop following another rough game on Friday, when Tejada made an error.
“We made three errors [Friday] and he had one of them,’’ Alderson said. “I don’t want to put a microscope on Ruben at this point. Let him play a little bit.”
Tejada is hardly the only player in camp with something to prove and the battle for first base continued its hiatus Saturday, with both Ike Davis (calf) and Lucas Duda (hamstring) missing the game.
“I’d rather have them out in the first half of spring training than the last half,” Alderson said. “There’s lots of time left.”
As to whether there was any urgency in getting them back on the field because of their situation, Alderson would only say: “I think it’s important to get them all out there.”
Terry Collins didn’t have a timetable for their return beyond that neither would play Sunday.
Eric Young Jr. led off the game with a bunt single, something Collins would like to see him do more often.
“I want to get the ball on the ground more and use my speed to my advantage,” Young said.