Matt Harvey’s non-dildo-related suspension is just the latest beef that the Mets have tried and failed to keep inside the clubhouse, instead looking on in horror as the beef spills over into the stadium corridors and onto the field and everywhere, just nothing but beef, rancid, scabrous beef smeared across the tabloids’ back pages and the inside of every car of the 7 train.
So what’s the deal with his current three-game unpaid suspension? Reports have Harvey golfing on Saturday, then calling in sick from showing up for Saturday night’s game in Queens. It’s not weird for the next day’s starting pitcher to not make a ballpark appearance, but from Jon Heyman’s latest report for Fanrag Sports, it seems pretty clear that the Mets didn’t believe Harvey was actually home with a migraine headache:
Several hours after Harvey texted a Mets coach (or texted the coach back, depending on who tells the story) to let him know that he was ill and wouldn’t be coming to Citi Field for Saturday night’s game against the Marlins, the Mets’ pitcher was visited at his Manhattan apartment by a couple men — Mets security people — sent by the team to see what was happening with him.
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Harvey is said to have answered his own door in his pajamas, and word from people who’ve spoken to him is that the Mets emissaries weren’t doctors or caretakers but rather people who quizzed him about about what was going on with him. The implication he apparently got: the team was checking to see if he was really at home, and really ill. (He definitely was at home; on that score everyone agrees.)
Oh yes, give it to me. In fact, give me even more.
Maybe Collins doesn’t actually know! Maybe it’s an honest answer. But this team lies to the media about stupid, pointless shit all the time, and standard operating procedure here would just be to say “yes.” Not saying “yes” feels a lot like saying “no.”
Harvey’s three-game suspension means he will again be eligible to pitch on Wednesday against the Giants, but instead the Mets announced he’ll go on Friday in Milwaukee. Here’s the Post’s beat guy with the Mets’ reasoning for that.
Wednesday’s “hostile environment” would be, yes, Citi Field. God bless this Mets mess.