Matt Harvey scoffs at calling slump a "crisis point"

Coming off one of the worst stretches of his young career, Matt Harvey hurled seven scoreless innings against the Toronto Blue Jays last night. Just like that, concern turned back into excitement. Some might call it a turning point in the 26-year-old's recovery from Tommy John surgery, but Harvey has no interest in any such narrative.

Asked if he considered his recent slump a "crisis point" during the post-game press conference, Harvey refused to answer. Harvey likely heard several questions too many about panicking in June on a first-place team before his start last night.

Before bouncing back against Toronto, Harvey allowed 20 runs and eight home runs during a bad four-start stretch. Not only are rough patches natural coming off major surgery, all healthy pitchers go through them. Clayton Kershaw yielded a 5.00 ERA through his first four May starts, only to surrender three earned runs his last four outings. Slumps happen. For the great ones, they rarely last.

Then again, Harvey and everyone else would likely hear the word "crisis" far more today had he endured another rough start. Now that he has a 3.32 ERA, everyone can take a deep breath and instead focus their energy on an athlete saying a dirty word.