Mets manager Terry Collins wanted to keep the reason why Matt Harvey was suspended under wraps.
While admirable, this is New York, and we all knew that the truth was going to come out at some point.
Early Tuesday morning, the reason behind Matt Harvey’s headache was revealed. According to Emily Smith and David K. Li of Page Six, Harvey was out partying at 1 Oak in the Meatpacking District for Cinco de Mayo until 4 a.m. on Saturday.
He didn’t take it easy despite having to pitch on Sunday afternoon, either. Sources told Smith and Li that Harvey was partaking in plenty of top-shelf liquor including Don Julio, Armand de Brignac champagne and Belvedere vodka.
Well, that’s where the headache that kept him home came from.
Somehow, this all could have been avoided had he just showed up to Citi Field for Saturday night’s 7:10 p.m. first pitch against the Miami Marlins.
Even though he wasn’t pitching that night — and many pitchers do not come to the park a night before their start— Collins expected him to be there. And when he didn’t receive any word from him, that’s when the angry manager went to Mets brass and the unpaid three-game suspension came about.
Harvey said that he did alert the team of having a migraine that would keep him home from work on Saturday, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports.
He even claimed that he went and played a round of golf with three of his friends and had lunch from a private chef. After he fell asleep later, that’s when the headache came about.
It doesn’t look like there is a lot of trust between the Mets and Harvey. The team apparently sent a pair of security officials to the ailing pitcher’s apartment in Greenwich Village late on Saturday night.
The Mets insist that it was just to check on his well-being. Harvey said that he was practically interrogated at his front door while in pajamas.
In what dimension could this whole situation end well? The only way things can possibly be resolved is if Harvey swallows his pride, takes the punishment on the chin, and starts putting baseball and his team first, which he has not been able to do since making his MLB debut in 2012.
I’m not saying don’t go out and have a good time. Everyone needs to do that every once in a while. But take a second, think of the optics before putting yourself in a difficult situation and make your job, which is paying you $5.1 million this year, a top priority.
After all, this is New York. And that pesky media is always watching.
