MY FAVORITE METS PLAYERS - # 3 - MATT HARVEY– by Tom Brennan

MY FAVORITE METS PLAYERS - # 3 - MATT HARVEY– by Tom Brennan

I am an excited fan coming into 2016. This team is deeper than the deep blue sea, more talented than Bruno Mars at a Super Bowl halftime show.

I recently wrote about my top 2 favorites as a Mets fan:

1. Noah Syndergaard (Thor)
2. Yoenis Cespedes (Superman)

I like the ark…err…arc of Noah's career, and someday the MVP will be handed out at the Cespys, baseball's future version of the Oscars.

"Marvel" not that after my selections of Thor and Superman as my # 1 and # 2 guys, I go with the Dark Knight of Gotham as my #3 favorite:

Magnificent Matt Harvey

Matt Harvey took the baseball world by storm in the first few months of 2013, a man against boys, and gave Mets fans true hopes that the current crop of rising stud arms wouldn't be a redux of the false promises of Paul Wilson, Bill Pulsipher, and Izzy (OK, Izzy became real good, but he mostly did it as a non-Met, which does not count to a Mets fan).  

Mets fans were sickened when Matt retired to his bat cave in late 2013 to become acquainted with Tommy John.

But Mets fans were delighted when Matt was back healthy in 2015 with a marvelous Matt season.  

Of course, innings counts were a looming concern, but after Scott Boras tried to wreck our party with fears of a Strasburg-like late season shutdown, the Gotham Knight said what any superhero would have said: give me the friggin' ball – and my cape, please.

Ball in hand, Matt went above and beyond in the playoffs, with true valor.  He has a lot of big bucks riding on his continued health, but he went old school, took the risk head on, climbed onto the mound, and attacked.  Loved it.

My one late season regret was, after Collins foolishly told him he was yanking him from his World Series masterpiece after 8 innings, Matt was forced to blow his focus by having to then talk Collins out of it – amped up from that encounter, he then came out in the 9th too amped up, and was ineffective. Imagine Seaver in 1969 being told, nice 8 innings, you're done?  No way.  And, to Harvey, no respect.  If I were the manager, I’d have said to him, this is your pitch count, it is up to you if you feel you’re done, otherwise go get ‘em, but if you let anyone get on, I’m probably gonna yank you.  But what happened happened.   On to 2016.

So what do we have in 2016 in Harvey? The Dark Knight is quite the superlative pitcher as well as flamethrower, and tough as nails.  He could just reel in a Cy Young award this year...if he can beat Thor, deGrom, and Matz to it, of course.  For a pitcher, he can hit, but those 3 have an edge on him – sorry, Matt.  You need more hits to be considered Bat Man in that regard.

Matt's my # 3 favorite player on this Mets squad.  I realize he is probably # 1 on a lot of other folks' lists.  

# 3 on this team is great – do I pick Mantle, Whitey Ford, or Yogi Berra – whoever is # 3 in that group is no slouch.

I hope to see Harvey pitch at Citifield this summer...preferably on a dark night. Chilly is OK – Matt can bring the heat.

Next article: my # 4 favorite.