The year started off as any other for us Mets fans, an offseason with major disappointments, no big moves made, and a roster filled with no name players. However, as the season progressed one glimmer of hope arose from the blue. While the team was a few games under .500, pitcher Matt Harvey won his first five games with an earned run average (ERA) near 2.00. Harvey impressed everyone, and pitched well enough to win his first 17 games, if his offense had an idea of how to score. Harvey ended up winning only seven games, and losing two by the all star break with an ERA of 2.35, earning the starting spot at his home ballpark, Citi Field, along side his captain David Wright. Harvey pitched well enough to be the favorite to win the NL Cy Young award, in which  would make him the second Met in a row to win it after R.A Dickey won it last year. Some might have thought that Harvey didn’t have the numbers to win the Cy Young, even though he was the most dominant pitcher in the National League. He was regarded as the worst luck pitch in all of baseball due to the fact the Mets scored 2 less runs a game when Harvey took the mound. And to make matters worse, when Harvey did lead after he exited the game, the Mets bullpen lost the lead for him.
The bullpen for the Mets was the worst when  Harvey was pitching. Even after all his bad luck, he still impressed everyone, and gave everyone of us Mets fan a glimpse of all his talent on August 7th, when Harvey pitched his first ever complete game four-hitter against the Rockies of Colorado. Many times in the season, Harvey has either taken a perfect game, or a no-hitter, into the 6th inning and past the 6th, but never finished them. As one can imagine, Mets fans were ecstatic. And then it happened. The worst thing that a pitcher never wants to hear. While experiencing elbow inflammation, the Mets did not hesitate to send their top pitcher to go get checked out. After a series of MRI’s, the doctors discovered that Harvey had a partially torn Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) in his right pitching elbow This could mean the end to any pitchers career, and a pitcher of Harvey’s caliber sometimes never return to their dominant ways. After a second evaluation by Dr.James Andrews, Harvey had two options, rehab his elbow, or go in for Tommy John Surgery and miss all of next year.  Harvey, being the competitor he is, chose to rehab his elbow in hope of pitching again next season. After about two weeks of rehab, Harvey decided that going in for surgery would be more beneficial for his arm, and his team. As a die-hard Mets fan, I was obviously heart broken by this whole ordeal, after the news first broke of Harvey’s torn UCL, I was so upset i actually teared up a little bit. However, after the news broke, the Mets second pitching phenom, Zack Wheeler, went on a streak of games showing his talents, shutting down opponent after opponent, reminding the Mets, and their fans, of Harvey before his injury. This provided the fans of the New York Mets, another glimmer of hope that next season might not be a total disaster. But, as in any sport, only time will tell.