Apparently it was Matt Harvey's fault the Mets lost last night - MLB

The Mets took a 3-2 lead into the top of the ninth inning yesterday, but ended up blowing it by coughing up four runs to the Giants. The runs scored as a result of some bad command on the part of closer Jeruys Familia who walked a couple of guys and gave up a couple of hits and some bad defense by Wilmer Flores who threw away what could’ve been a double play ball. Stuff happens.

Except, at least according to one columnist, this was not a matter of stuff happening. According to Dave Lennon, it was Matt Harvey’s fault:

Because this is a Matt Harvey World, and the Mets just happen to be living in it since the heartbroken pitcher went AWOL, we can partly blame Wednesday’s 6-5 loss to the Giants on the residue from his club-hopping fiasco over the weekend.

And here’s why.

Read his column for the why, but here’s the short version: since Terry Collins decided to push Harvey to Friday, newcomer Tommy Milone had to start yesterday and that led to the loss. “But wait!” you say. “Milone was pretty good, allowing two runs over five innings!” Yes, but his mere presence, Lennon argues, caused Terry Collins to overmanage on Tuesday, using his best relievers despite having a 6-1 lead, assuming he was going to punt Wednesday’s game, so he damn well better win on Tuesday. That meant that Familia ended up pitching three days in a row and, thus, yesterday happened. All thanks to Matt Harvey’s club-hopping.

Except, as Lennon admits, Familia had only thrown five pitches on Monday and ten Tuesday and said he wasn’t gassed.
Except, as Lennon also admits, Familia has pitched on three days in a row often, having done so once already this season and seven times last year.
Except the Mets could maybe have gotten out of the ninth with a win despite all of this if Wilmer Flores hadn’t thrown the ball away.
Except Terry Collins’ choice to use a bunch of relievers with a five-run lead the day before is is own mistake, and the notion that he was doing so for fear of what might happen yesterday is both (a) a stretch; and (b) was directly contradicted by what Collins himself said. Indeed, if anything, wouldn’t Collins be more likely to NOT use his relievers on Tuesday if he was truly concerned about Milone on Wednesday? He’d expect a bullpen game, right?

I get that Matt Harvey did a bad thing and that he should feel bad and all of that, but suggesting that it’s his fault the Mets lost yesterday is, in my view, more of an exercise in search engine optimization and hopping on a hot story than it is an exercise in reasonable baseball analysis.

Matt Harvey is guilty of a lot of stuff, but he didn’t lost the game yesterday.

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LOS ANGELES – Despite battling injuries all season, the New York Yankees are still managing to pick up victories.

With AL MVP Aaron Judge sidelined after injuring his foot on Saturday, the Yankees got strong pitching and were able to use a little bit of small ball to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 Sunday and take two of three games in the weekend series.

“Just a really good all-around effort. A lot of winning things were happening in that game,” manager Aaron Boone said.

New York plated runs in the seventh and eighth innings on soft-contract grounders before Anthony Volpe provided some insurance with a two-run homer in the ninth.

J.D. Martinez homered for the Dodgers, who dropped the final two games in the series.

Clay Holmes (4-2) pitched one inning to pick up the win, and Wandy Peralta got the last four outs for his fourth save.

It was a pitchers’ duel for six innings between the Yankees’ Domingo Germán and Dodgers’ Bobby Miller. The right-handers matched zeroes as the teams combined for only four hits in the first six innings.

Dodgers’ rookie Miller allowed only one hit in his six innings, becoming the first Dodgers’ pitcher since at least 1901 to allow one hit or fewer within his first three big league starts. The 24-year old right-hander struck out seven and walked two in his third start.

Germán went 6 2/3 innings and allowed one run and four hits, including Martinez’s solo shot to tie it at 1-all in the seventh. The right-hander has limited opponents to one run or fewer in four of his last six starts.

Jake Bauers – who was playing right field in place of Judge – scored the game’s first run in the seventh on Kyle Higashioka‘s broken-bat grounder to short.

Bauers got aboard with a base hit then advanced to third when Brusdar Graterol threw the ball away on Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s bunt.

After Martinez’s homer, the Yankees retook the lead in the eighth against Evan Phillips (1-1). Oswaldo Cabrera drove in Anthony Rizzo with the go-ahead run with a slow roller that second baseman Miguel Vargas could only throw to first.

“It not being hit well helps when the fielders have to move a little. That’s what you’re selling out for. Good job by the base runners there,” Boone said.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said both balls could not have been placed any better by the Yankees’ batters.

“I don’t think they had a chance on both balls. The base runners had such a good jump. They were jam shots,” Roberts said. “There were a lot of things we did as far as giving away a couple bases on the defensive side.”

Volpe had two hits after being mired in a 3-for-38 slump his last 11 games. He extended the lead by driving Caleb Ferguson’s fastball over the wall in left-center in the ninth. It was Volpe’s ninth homer, which is second among AL rookies.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence,” said Volpe after the Yankees took four of six on the road trip.

BOMBS AWAY

Martinez evened it in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot to left-center. It was his 10th homer in the last 21 games.

Martinez has 20 homers against the Yankees, his third-most against any club. He has 35 against Baltimore and 23 vs. Cleveland. He is four homers away from 300 for his career.

MILLER TIME

Miller – the 29th overall pick in the 2020 amateur draft – looked like he might have a short outing after throwing 27 pitches in the first inning. He struck out three but also walked two.

Miller retired seven straight between the third and fifth innings before Volpe lined a base hit to center field with two out in the fifth.

“It felt really good. Been working on my slider a lot lately.,” said Miller, who threw 86 pitches, including 39 sliders. “They know I have a good fastball so I have to have my other pitches working as well.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes is expected to be placed on the injured list Monday or Tuesday due to a shoulder issue. Manager Aaron Boone said Cortes has been slower to recover between starts and is likely to miss one or two starts. … LHP Carlos Rendon (left forearm strain) will face hitters on Wednesday.

Dodgers: OF Trayce Thompson was placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain. OF Johnny Deluca was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City.

UP NEXT

Yankees: Return home for six games starting Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox. RHP Clarke Schmidt (2-5, 5.01 ERA) has gone at least five innings in six of his last eight starts.

Dodgers: Hit the road starting Tuesday against Cincinnati. RHP Tony Gonsolin (3-1, 1.77 ERA) has gone 3-0 in his last four starts.

Apparently it was Matt Harvey’s fault the Mets lost last night

Yankees score runs in final three innings for 4-1 victory over Dodgers