Meet the Mets
The Mets beat the Marlins with ease last night. Bartolo Colon pitched a shutout, and the Mets hit three home runs and scored seven runs in total for the win. This afternoon, Steven Matz makes his first start since he rejoined the team after a stint on the disabled list as the Mets attempt to take the three-game series from the Marlins.
Choose your recap: Amazin' Avenue long and short, Newsday, Daily News, Star-Ledger, Post, Record, MLB.com, Times, or Faith and Fear.
Of course, most of the talk about the Mets yesterday had nothing to do with the game they played. After Scott Boras went public with the opinion that Matt Harvey should not pitch more than 180 innings this year, the pitcher re-asserted that hard innings cap to reporters before the game.
That did not sit well with Mets fans or the media, as evidenced by the back pages—and one front page, too—of the local tabloids. The timing of Harvey's announcement seems like betrayal, writes David Lennon. Ken Davidoff writes that the Mets now have the perfect opening to trade Harvey. He's a hypocrite, writes Mike Vaccaro, who suggests that Harvey should be moved to the bullpen to fix the Mets' seventh inning problem. Mike Lupica writes that Harvey will be remembered as an ace who quit, and his column has some of the most detailed quotes from Sandy Alderson in it. Anthony McCarron writes that this whole episode will hurt Harvey's legacy. Bob Klapisch: also not thrilled.
Out of breath after reading that paragraph? Take a break with Bartolo Colon's outstanding behind-the-back move on a slow roller up the first base line last night.
With Harvey potentially facing a shutdown, Steven Matz could be of far greater importance to the Mets the rest of the way than originally anticipated.
Around the NL East
The Braves continued their stretch of some of the worst baseball in recent history and lost to the Nationals again last night. That means the Mets' division lead is still at five games.
The Phillies unsurprisingly lost, as well, to the Red Sox. Here's another video to make you feel good.
This date in Mets history
Nine years ago today, Oliver Perez pitched a shutout for the Mets.