More Like The Prior Version

I'd heard some rumbling at some point over the weekend that the Mets had "pinpointed" Matt Harvey's mechanical issue and were working on correcting it. You take these things with a grain of salt. I'd also read something else somewhere that said that if Harvey didn't pitch at least a halfway decent game against the White Sox on Monday, that the Mets were considering sending him down to the Minor Leagues altogether. But as I'd said last week, all this talk surrounding Harvey is pretty cheap. We just have to let him work through it and if it means sitting through some games that are decidedly un-Harvey-like, so be it. He's not yakking these games on purpose.

So, of course, on Monday afternoon against the Chicago White Sox, he went out and threw 7 shutout innings, looking very much like his old self again.

Now, it could be the opponent. The White Sox, still led by Ballclub Favorite Robin Ventura, have been slumping of late after a hot start. The last time Harvey faced the White Sox, way back in 2013, he of course damn near threw a Perfect Game at them. But Harvey has had some lousy games against teams he should have dominated this season, so nobody really knew what to expect. But he worked through things, got through the middle innings, and when he got into a 7th inning jam, he managed to get himself through that as well. 7 innings, no runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts? That seems like the old Harvey to me. If nothing else it's a step in the right direction.

The other thing, of course, that made this like an old school Harvey game was the lack of run support. His "Imperfect" Game in 2013 was undercut by the fact that he didn't get a win, because the offense couldn't score a run. This game seemed headed down a similar track as Jose Quintana allowed the Mets nothing until the 7th, when Neil Walker hit a Home Run. Some days, one run is all you need. This would have to be one of those days.

Then, there was Jeurys Familia, coming back after a miserable weekend and getting the White Sox in order in the 9th for the Save. So he remains perfect in Save situations in spite of himself and I'm not sure if this outing proves anything for him except for that fact. Maybe he just decided to stop cocking around with the sinker or the splitter and just throw more fastballs. It works for Bartolo.

The story of course remains Harvey, though, and while it's nice to see him have a solid outing, finally, we have to remember that it's still a process. He could come back against Miami over the weekend and pitch terribly again, especially considering Miami usually sticks it to him more than anyone. Baby steps. At least he didn't get blasted out of the building again.