The Nationals find themselves in as advantageous a position as they could have hoped for leading up to their three game series with the Mets. They are four games back, their bats have come to life, and they seem to be playing at the level everyone expected them to be at all season long. What is even better is that the Mets seem to be cooling off and possibly imploding right before our eyes with Matt Harvey's
arbitrary innings limit that he failed to notify anyone of until about two days ago. But don't worry Mets fans,
he will pitch in the playoffs. If he can get there. What the Nationals need to do is post this article around the locker room as fodder for merciless ridicule and to arouse visceral motivation that leads them to granting Harvey his 180 innings limit. The Nationals need to say things like, "This is the guy who compared himself to Batman because of how tough he was?" and "Are we going to let a team led by a guy who pulls this kind of crap take our division title away from us?". The Nationals are as metaphorically close to the NL East lead as they have been since they were swept by the Mets in a three game series at the end of July that precipitated the Mets' rise to power. Now, the man who led off on the mound in that series could be the undoing of his franchise's playoff hopes if the Nationals can channel some late season magic.
It seems that both franchises are coming to a
Frostinian fork in the road. The Nationals looked all but dead as they could not take advantage of the Mets' miscues in August and let the Mets' lead perpetually stay at six games. The Nationals now find themselves only four games back, with
their closer calling out their fans' passion and an opportunity to have a 1 in 23 chance of pulling even with the Mets if all goes to plan between now and Wednesday evening. After the Mets swept the Nats in that three game series they went 16-6, and it seemed as if the Mets were destined to take the division from the Nats. The Mets have since gone 4-5 in their last nine games, and Harvey's innings limit fiasco must be causing at least some distraction based on
David Wright's dreaded vote of confidence.
The Nationals and Mets' seasons seem to be showing signs of what statisticians call regression to the mean, but Matt Harvey's innings limit makes this three game series anything but average.
This series will feature the two pitchers whose shutdowns caused their respective fan bases to lose their minds when an innings limit was announced. If it were up to the baseball gods, or if Vince McMahon were running the MLB, it would be Stephen Strausburg pitching on Tuesday, instead of Wednesday, opposite Matt Harvey. There are similarities between when Strausburg was shutdown and Harvey's recent revelation . Both the Mets and Nats were leading the division when it happened, it happened around the same time of year, and both were huge stories in the local and national media. Harvey himself commented about being on an innings limit during the Strausburg shutdown due to the Mets wanting to keep him from wearing himself out at a young age in their AAA system.
He stated:
“I kind of knew [being put on an innings limit] was going to happen, so I kind of avoided thinking about it because that would just cause problems — clutter, as people would say. I just try to take it day by day. I’m going to prepare for the rest of the season even if they do shut me down. I’m pretty sure I’m still going to throw bullpens and stuff.”
Weird right, given the current sate of affairs? This statement was made by Harvey in 2010, but life is a little different when you are the ace starter instead of some hot prospect. The Mets are showing signs that they could be slowing down with their top player having to do damage control in the media rather than on the field. It is time for the Nationals impose their own innings limit on Harvey by winning this series and putting themselves closer to being back in the position everyone thought they would be in at this point in the season.
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