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July 4, 2013 Mets 2013 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 81: Loss To Diamondbacks

Diamondbacks 5 Mets 3

At the halfway point in the season, Matt Harvey finally proves he’s human.

Mets Game Notes

He’s not Superman after all — Harvey is human, puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us, after all. Perhaps his kryptonite was the rain delay. Since he gets hyped up prior to ballgames — similar to a football player’s mentality — it’s possible that the hour-plus delay was too long to be that amped without competing; in other words, the adrenalin stopped flowing. I have to believe that his mindset has at least something to do with his spectacular pitching, and one can only remain fired up while inactive for so long.

While Harvey was off in general, Miguel Montero in particular was strangely comfortable against him, and handled him as well as anyone has this year. Montero was 2-for-2 with 2 walks and a sacrifice fly, which doesn’t sound all that dominating, but watching him in the box it was evident that he was confident and comfortable. Not used to seeing that.

In the end, it was frequent Met killer Cody Ross who dealt the biggest blow — a three-run homer to give the Snakes a lead they’d never relinquish. That’s the same Cody Ross that the Mets considered signing as a free agent last winter, then didn’t, then reconsidered, then didn’t, right?

While Harvey had an off-night, Snakes starter Randall Delgado had an on-night, going seven strong and allowing only two runs on seven hits and no walks in earning his first win as a Diamondback.

It was nice to see Daniel Murphy go yard. It was not nice to see Daniel Murphy choose not to run on an infield pop-up in his previous at-bat. Normally, Murphy is hustling all the time — where did this come from? I hope it’s not a sign of things to come — he’d quickly become a lot less likeable if he became a dog.

Next Mets Game

The final game of the series starts at 1:10 p.m. on Independence Day. Dillon Gee faces Ian Kennedy. Happy Fourth, everyone!

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. argonbunnies July 4, 2013 at 5:55 am
    Harvey didn’t pitch inside all day. Strike 3 to Chavez, ball 4 to Montero, one bounced slider, and that was it for the game. Maybe his iffy command made him reluctant, for fear of missing middle-in? I wish he’d pitched inside regardless, so the D’backs hitters couldn’t take such good swings on his pitches on the outside edge. Montero absolutely looked comfortable, sitting away, away, away.

    Despite all that, Harvey was one bad pitch away from going 6 scoreless.

    In the 7th, even though his pitch count was a mere 100, he looked done to me. I don’t think he’s conditioned to go much beyond that on a hot night yet.

    After watching a red hot Josh Satin take 3-1 fastballs over the middle in 2 separate ABs, I’m tempted to rant about a bad approach, but then I remember Lucas Duda’s April. Yeah, Duda infuriatingly took some hittable pitches, but his overall numbers were excellent — and when he tried to be more aggressive, he simply became terrible. Maybe Satin and Duda simply don’t have the talent to adjust to what’s thrown, and can best succeed by guessing, and only swinging if they get their pitch.

  2. david July 4, 2013 at 10:16 am
    Blind Freddy could see Harvey was laboring ALL NIGHT. It was obvious the rain delay did not suit him. From the first inning onward TC should have known not to push his ace on a meaningless Weds nite game, albeit Fireworks Nite is special and I loved it last year. Why, oh why, send him out with 100 hard pitches in the 7th? I don’t buy giving him a chance to get the W, it has to be about the team not the player and Havey above all others – except for Wright – knows this.
  3. Dan B July 4, 2013 at 2:04 pm
    hey Joe, I knew you are busy with work and moving but if you have the time, how about revisiting our preseason predictions?
    • Joe Janish July 4, 2013 at 5:58 pm
      Good idea. Maybe during the All-Star break, when nothing of interest is going on.