Another episode of the world-famous Harvey Days is here, and tonight’s episode sure is a doozy.
Unlike the other games that Harvey’s pitched in (which have been relatively uninteresting — it’s the Reds, after all) this game was against Madison Bumgarner and the Giants, which provided a weird sense of nostalgia. Had this game been in 2013, it would have been the game of the week.
Unfortunately, the TV Announcers were thinking the same thing, as they spent multiple innings discussing Harvey’s fall from stardom, and compared it to Bumgarner. It was Frazier-from-NJ-who-played-in-the-LLWS level annoying.
Harvey started off shaky in the first inning, allowing line drives on three ball counts, and it looked like it was going to be one of those “Harv” nights instead of a TDK one.
After a quiet second and third, Matt got into some trouble in the fourth inning. After a fielding error and a walk, Harvey balked for the first time in my memory, which lead to this reaction:
He then (un)buttoned his jersey and got a clutch strikeout and a quick pop out.
There were some quick words between Harvey and the umpire regarding the balk, but nothing transpired beyond that.
It was at this point that I realized that Harvey had a no-hitter going. It took until the fifth inning for me to realize that as he never had his dominant stuff, just his average repertoire mixed in with a little bit of luck.
Even the look on his face when the TV guys realized there was a no-hitter going on was abnormal for Matt.
When I saw that look, I began to root for him like we all used to. After his well-spoken press conference in Queens, he’s taken on this persona as the wounded bird trying to find his way, and to a certain extent, it’s worked.
Dare I say, Matt Harvey is likable again.
Unfortunately, Hi3to3y was not meant to be, as it was broken up in the sixth inning by a weak ground ball that was beaten out.
A few more outs, and Harvey’s night was done, 6.1 IP, with 4 H and 5 K. Not the world’s best line, but still the best start Matt’s had all year, which lowered his ERA to 4.91.
He walked back into the dugout to a huge standing ovation.
