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New York Mets Reaction: The Dark Knight Rises Once Again

By
Jeremy Fialkow
-

The New York Mets greet the Chicago White Sox with a victory behind a vintage Matt Harvey performance and a Neil Walker solo homer.

  • New York Mets 1 (29-21)
  • Chicago White Sox 0 (27-25)
  • MLB, Final, Box Score
  • Citi Field, Flushing, NY

The mental mistakes were nowhere to be seen. The hitch in his throwing motion was gone. Matt Harvey was back, for a day, at least.

The New York Mets rode their one time ace through seven innings of work that can only be described using two words: Utter dominance.

Those who flocked to Citi Field for Monday’s edition of Memorial Day baseball were treated to a vintage Harvey Day performance, right up to the Mets run support for the Dark Knight, or lack thereof.

A Neil Walker home run leading off the bottom of the 7th inning provided the one run needed by the Mets against the White Sox, as Harvey, Addison Reed, and Jeurys Familia combined for a shutout. It was Neil Walker’s 12th bomb of the season, his 6th game-winning RBI in 2016, and his 3rd go-ahead homer. The dinger runs New York’s streak to 10 games in which they’ve knocked one out of the park.

He’s Back!

Today was, truly, Harvey’s day.

Chants of “Har-vey! Har-vey!” rained supreme throughout Flushing on Monday afternoon, like they once did regularly in the not-so-distant past. This time around, they were cheering on the battered – but not completely broken – Harvey.

Harvey was perfect through four, allowed one hit after six, and needed just 87 pitches throughout his 7 innings of work.

He entered the game with a 0.00 ERA in the 7th inning, because, well, he hadn’t yet pitched into the 7th this season. After this game, his ERA in the 7th frame remained at triple-zeros.

Pumping out 95-98 mph fastballs all day, combined with a cool demeanor, the Dark Knight was clearly on top of his game, physically and mentally. His 76th pitch of the day hit 97 on the radar gun. Sustained velocity is something that had previously troubled Matt all season long. Monday, there were no issues.

Harvey now sits with a 5.37 ERA. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps.

Terry’s Terrible Lineup

Sure, the Mets won, but on the offensive end it wasn’t pretty at all. Following up yesterday’s amateur 7-8-9 hitters of Campbell-Plawecki-Kelly in the lineup, Terry Collins decided to try and one-up himself, and not in a good way.

Today’s 5-6-7-8 hitters were each batting under the Mendoza line. Alejandro de Aza led the bunch with a blistering .188 average. Winning with lineups like these is simply unsustainable. There were four, maybe five, legitimate big league batter’s in Monday’s lineup.

Rene Rivera, Starting Catcher?

I’ll keep this brief: Rene Rivera must start behind the plate for the Mets from here on out. Whether he hits or not, his defense is far too valuable to this team than what they get from Kevin Plawecki. The fact that Rivera’s bat may actually be better than Plawecki’s is the cherry on top.

What’s Next?

Game two of this inter-league matchup will see Mets’ rookie LHP Steven Matz aim for his 8th straight win. After a rough season debut, this has been a NL Rookie of the Year worthy first two months for Matz, pitching to a 1.13 ERA during his win streak.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET. You can catch the game on SNY.

NEXT: New York Mets Bartolo Colon Shows Off Cat-Like Reflexes In Robbing Yasiel Puig (Video)

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Jeremy Fialkow
Jeremy Fialkow was born and raised in Miami, FLA, but currently studies at the University of Maryland. When he's not studying hard, he can be found supporting his sometimes hopeless NY teams: Knicks, Mets, Jets, and Isles. Your sympathy is appreciated.

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