Cold Stop

Colorado has always been a nerve-wracking place for the Mets to play. I'd have to imagine that's the case for any team that has to go there, but it seems like ill happenings tend to befall the Mets in Denver moreso than most places. I'm not saying it's as bad as Atlanta or San Diego, but, then again, when every trip to Coors Field inevitably results in some mention of Dante Bichette, you know it's not exactly a happy place to be.

Last year of course was a different story as not only did the Mets come in raging hot but they also just blew the Colorados out of their own building in a 3-game sweep.

Friday night seemed to be more of every other season and less 2015. Matt Harvey regressed back to his struggling self, once again unraveling in a series of ringing hits in the middle innings and was ultimately bounced from the game in the 6th inning, leaving all sorts of questions and snibes in his wake.

Meanwhile, the Mets bats were stopped cold by Jon Gray. This isn't unprecedented; Gray pitched a rather strong, albeit abbreviated, game against the Mets last season and had them on the ropes until he was removed and the Mets came back. When the Mets saw Gray in Colorado, they ate him for lunch but again that was a different time. Gray, if you're willing to look past the fact that he pitches in Colorado half the time, is a pretty good pitching prospect.

That being said, Gray benefited from facing a Mets team that's stopped hitting, and this is a pretty inopportune time to stop hitting because on a normal Coors Field night, they probably could have figured out a way to offset Harvey's poor outing and maybe take some of the focus off of him. However, they're not hitting. They're not hitting Home Runs period and of course this gets people antsy because it seems like they've abandoned fundamentals. This isn't quite the case. The fundamentals are fine. This team just happens to hit more Home Runs than what we're used to seeing out of Mets teams.

Regardless, the Mets didn't hit Home Runs, didn't hit period and instead ended up losing the game 5-2 and now everyone's right back to asking "What's up with Harvey?" This is a question I'm sort of tired of hearing about, and I'm sure if I'm sick of it Matt Harvey must be completely apoplectic. These mechanical issues can be completely baffling but Harvey's not even alone on this staff as having to work through a mechanical issue. deGrom has at least identified his issue but identifying the problem is one thing, fixing it is something else entirely. These things take time and pitching in Colorado isn't exactly the best place to work through these issues.