VIERA, Fla. — The Mets don’t have to worry about a starting pitching controversy heading into Opening Day.
Matt Harvey wasn’t going to crack the 25-man roster regardless of how he pitched yesterday, but the clamor for the stud prospect to replace struggling Mike Pelfrey in the rotation certainly would have risen with a dominant Harvey performance against the Nationals.
The front office’s view that Harvey still needs minor league seasoning was only underscored during a dreadful 43-pitch exhibition start in which the 23-year-old righty surrendered three home runs and five earned runs and was yanked from the mound at Space Coast Stadium after one inning.
“My body felt great, my arm felt great, it was just a matter of getting the ball down and throwing my pitches, and I wasn’t able to do that,” Harvey said on a day the Mets lost 12-0 to the Nationals.
Harvey said he was “amped up” for the start. That Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg was the opposing pitcher probably didn’t help him relax. Strasburg held the Mets scoreless over five innings on five hits with five strikeouts.
“Hopefully next time we see [Harvey] he will be a lot better,” manager Terry Collins said. “He’s closer to the major leagues than what he showed today. It was just a [lousy] day.”
Harvey was given the start so Dillon Gee could remain in Port St. Lucie for a minor league game and avoid opposing the Nationals, whom he is scheduled to face in his first start of the regular season.
The start was Harvey’s first against major league competition after pitching in relief for the Mets earlier in the exhibition season. But it got ugly fast.
Ian Desmond led off with a home run for the Nationals, and Harvey faced 10 batters during a first inning in which he surrendered seven hits. Jayson Werth hit a monstrous home run to left field that would have cleared the fence by plenty even if the wind wasn’t blowing out, and Roger Bernadina hit the inning’s third homer.
“Something I learned from today is slowing everything down, whether it’s getting off the mound and taking a couple of extra breaths,” Harvey said. “It wasn’t nerves or anything like that, it was me being a little amped up and my body was moving a little too quick. It’s something I learned from.”
The plan to have Harvey throw 90 pitches was scrapped after he staggered to complete the first inning. Justin Hampson replaced Harvey and allowed five runs over the next two innings.
If anything left an impression on Harvey, it was Werth’s tape-measure home run.
“It almost seemed like I told him what was coming and he hit it,” Harvey said. “But he’s a professional hitter — he makes a lot of money for it. If I’m missing my spots and if you leave it over the middle, he’s going to hit it.”
Harvey indicated his teammates noticed that he was throwing instead of pitching.
“[Backup catcher] Rob Johnson helped me out quite a bit and said, ‘It just looked like that you were getting up there and throwing and not really thinking about what you were doing,’ ” Harvey said. “That’s something I kind of picked up was going on as well toward the end of the outing.”