Steve Sica- Why Matt Harvey is Still One of my Favorite Mets'

I was having a debate online last week on top five favorite Met players. Along with names like Mike Piazza, Jose Reyes, and David Wright, I put in Matt Harvey on my top-five list, most seemed to disagree.

Ten years ago, if you said this, no one would've batted an eye, but now, most would question you. Here's my reasoning behind why Matt Harvey is still a key part of Met history.

The year is 2012. It's summer and the Mets and fumbling their way through yet another losing season, soon to be their fourth consecutive one, as the team hasn't been relevant since they moved into Citi Field in 2009. Outside of R.A Dickey's renaissance season in which he would go on to win 20 games, there really isn't much to get excited about watching this team.

Then, on July 26th in Arizona, Matt Harvey, the Mets' first round pick in 2009, makes his MLB debut. He came with plenty of fanfare and had been ranked as one of baseball's top pitching prospects. He turned in one of the best pitching debuts in Met history going 5 and 1/3 innings, allowing no runs and striking out 11. Met fans took notice right away as it looked like at long last, after years of wandering through the abyss, the Mets had a real future again, and something to get excited about in Queens.

Going into the 2013 season, there was still no reason to think the Mets' would be able to compete with the rest of the National League for a playoff spot. About the only thing to look forward to that year was that Citi Field was going to host the All-Star Game. In his first full season, Matt Harvey would be putting on All-Star caliber starts every fifth game. Through April he had 4-0 record with an ERA of 1.56. The term ""Harvey Days' was born, and every fifth game became a must watch event for Met fans.

On May 7th, Harvey threw a one-hit shutout over nine innings against the White Sox through a bloody nose, an image that is now iconic in Met history. Fans dubbed him the nickname "The Dark Knight of Gotham" they'd pack Citi Field whenever he pitched, and while the team was no where near postseason contention, Citi Field took on a playoff vibe whenever Matt Harvey took the mound. That was never more apparent than on a chilly night in April where the Mets took on the Nats and their ace Stephen Strasburg. Met fans rained chants of "Harvey's Better!" at Strasburg as the Mets won the game 7-1 over the defending NL East champions.

This is why, in my opinion, Matt Harvey is one of the most significant Met players in the last 15 years. A key part of that 2015 National League pennant winning team, and also the bridge from irrelevancy of the early 2010's to the World Series by the middle of the decade. Matt Harvey made Met games worth watching again, put the team back into the national spotlight, and the fact the he was homegrown, made all the much sweeter to watch, as Met fans had watched prospect after prospect fizzle out for years as they made the MLB debuts.

By July of 2013, Matt Harvey not only made the All-Star game but he was the starting pitcher in his home ballpark at Citi Field. David Wright was the starting third baseman, and it couldn't have been a more perfect night for a team that had very little of them over the last half a decade. 

While Harvey would go down with Tommy John surgery by the end of 2013 and missed the 2014 season entirely. By the time he came back in 2015, the Mets had a potent supporting cast around him and he would play an important role in helping the Mets win their first division title in a decade, and also their first pennant in 15 years.

Harvey's Met legacy is complicated. There's a lot of what if's surrounding him and you can't help but feel like he could've done more during his time in Queens. We've seen him back at Citi Field as a fan in the stands, and also at the Alumni Classic. It was nice seeing him get a big hand from the crowd when his name was called out. I think as time goes on, more Met fans will see where I'm coming from. The Matt Harvey season of 2013, is one the best in Met history. He brought a team that had been struggling to find it's way back to the top of the National League, and a team that lacked any sort of identity in years, and put them back on the map.

It didn't end with a World Series parade. It didn't end with Matt Harvey retiring in a blaze of orange and blue glory. In fact, none of those "five aces" wound up being forever Met players. But, you really can't tell the story of one of the most exciting Met teams, the 2015 squad, without Matt Harvey.