I would have loved to have gone out last night and knocked Matt Harvey around but the way things played out made it even sweeter. Harvey was untouchable through five innings. Cruising along having allowed just one hit and seven strikeouts through 77 pitches. Then came the hook. I've never seen anything like that in my entire life. For weeks the baseball world has been waiting to see exactly how all of the Harvey hoopla was going to unfold and then like something out of a movie script it all came to fruition. On Sunday Night Baseball, in front of the entire country the Met bullpen came in to pitch Harvey's innings and immediately blew the game. 11 runs in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings. Can't make it up. For the Mets, outside of the turmoil it may be causing in the locker room and the subsequent media shitstorm last night's game will in all likelihood not affect their clinching of the NL East (though nothing would make me happier than to have played a part in initiating their undoing). And as a Yankee fan all you can do is say thanks to the Mets for being the Mets and literally handing us a win that we desperately needed.
All of the Harvey insanity overshadowed what was another stellar outing by CC. That's the other part of what made last night so sweet. Here you have CC, a guy who's pitched a billion innings in his career. A guy who's pitched on three-days-rest time and again to will his team to and through the postseason. A guy who's out there at 35-years-old on one leg pitching with less than half the stuff he used to have. And then you have Harvey in the other dugout, silent as the grave when Terry Collins yanked him. Since coming off the DL CC's pitching as well as he has since 2012 and has actually filled a huge void left by Eovaldi's injury and Nova's ineffectiveness. Whether it's the new brace or the rest he seems to have found his groove and I for one couldn't be more happy for him. I completely wrote this guy off and if he can keep this going he may just earn himself a postseason start (it'll be there for him to make, god-willing).
Yesterday wasn't all sunshine and smiles for the Yanks. It was announced earlier in the day that Tanaka is going to miss Wednesday's start in Toronto with a Grade 1 hamstring strain. He's only expected to miss this one start even though he's apparently been fighting to make it but this is still a HUGE blow. That game could very well decide the division and now instead of the guy who's pitched to a 1.23 ERA in three starts against the Blue Jays since August 9th we're going to have to turn to Ivan Nova with the season on the line.
Overall it was a successful weekend for the Yanks. After falling 4.5 games out after Friday night the Yanks picked up two games in two days. If Toronto can carry their mini-slump into the next three games we're a long shot away from being in first place on Thursday morning. The Blue Jay's bullpen looks like it might be a little shaken up after a rough series against the Red Sox. If we keep it close I think when it comes down to the wire we should be able to win the battle of the bullpens. The problem there is we're throwing out three very vulnerable starting pitchers and if we know one thing about the Blue Jays it's that they can put games out of reach in an eye-blink.
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