JABO: Matt Harvey’s Excellent Return

You almost couldn’t dream of a better matchup. Thursday in the capital, Stephen Strasburg went up against Matt Harvey. It would technically be possible to improve on that. Some would suggest Corey Kluber and Clayton Kershaw. Others would suggest Felix Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw. But, on pure stuff alone, Strasburg’s a delight to watch, and Harvey’s every bit his equal. At least, that’s what we recalled. We also hadn’t seen Harvey pitch a major-league game in a while.

Harvey began and ended on a pitch count. He still managed to go longer than Strasburg did, spinning six shutout frames on 91 pitches. I don’t know if there was a single representative at-bat, but I will volunteer this first-inning showdown against Bryce Harper:

1. low curveball, 83, whiff
2. high fastball, 97, whiff
3. high fastball, 97, ball
4. high fastball, 97, whiff

In case that one doesn’t do it for you, you might prefer the third-inning at-bat, where Harvey whiffed Harper with a high fastball at 97. Or you could skip ahead to the sixth, where Harvey whiffed Harper with a high fastball at 96. Between Strasburg and Harper, the Nationals have two young stars who’ve generated near-unparalleled hype. Thursday, Harvey out-played them both. It was a rather emphatic way for the phenom to kick off what promises to be an electric campaign.

And the Mets themselves are thinking big things. Bigger things, at least, than they’ve been thinking about the last few years. This year, they want to be a year of transition from finding and developing talent to winning. Like a smaller-scale Cubs, if you will, and, like the Cubs, the Mets think they have the ability to get to the playoffs, even without the injured Zack Wheeler. It stands to reason that, if things go well this year for New York, it’ll be in large part because of what Harvey can do, now that he’s back.

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