Suddenly the Mets' possibilities appear limitless—or at least, in case the of ace Matt Harvey, less limited.
And it's all because Harvey, who pitched into the seventh inning Saturday to help the Mets clinch their first NL East title since 2006, last week asked—maybe even demanded—that he be allowed to pitch deeper into games, the New York Daily News reported.
Manager Terry Collins said it goes back to Harvey (13-7, 2.80 ERA) being pulled from a start against the Yankees after giving up only one hit over five innings of what the bullpen turned into a Mets loss.
According to the Daily News, that led to the start of a new Harvey plan, prescribed not by his agent, Scott Boras, but by Harvey himself.
“I think Matt got frustrated by what happened in the Yankee game," Collins said. “He got caught in the middle of this thing, and I’ve said all along that he’s a good teammate, but some guys in that clubhouse got turned off by it. And I can understand that."
The Mets surely will have to count on Harvey in the playoffs, and although Collins said some limits remain in place, the Mets skipper believes that Harvey is looking at the situation differently now than he did for at least some of the season.
“When he came to me last week, he said, ‘I want to pitch. I want to stay out there. I want to throw 100 pitches and I want to do it twice (before the end of the season),'" Collins said. “He said, ‘We’re going to win this thing and I’m going to pitch in the playoffs, and I’ve got to be ready. And I’m not ready.’”
Thus the longer outing, and a plan that pitching coach Dan Warthen said Harvey delivered even more forcefully to him.
“He said," Warthen recounted, "he wants to go 100 pitches every fifth day the rest of the way."
