Dark Knight Returns

Interleague games around Major League Baseball can still be fun. They provide interesting matchups between teams that don't face eachother all that often. We get that here in New York this week with the Baltimore Orioles coming in for a two game series with the Mets starting today. As if that wasn't intrigue enough, the pitching matchup for Wednesday's afternoon start makes it even better. Taijuan Walker gets the start for the Mets, while the O's will send the Dark Knight himself, Matt Harvey to the mound. It will be Harvey's first appearance on the New York mound since being traded away in 2018.

Harvey has good numbers in Baltimore this year, going 3-2 in seven starts with a 3.60 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 35 innings.  He was the talk of the town during the early part of his six year stint with the Mets, the teams ace while he was here. Then injuries started to take hold, and Harvey wasn't the same after that. Once he had that magic after Tommy John Surgery during the 23015 season, the year in which he practically willed the Mets into the World Series, he fell off. It was a combination of injuries and a poor performance mentally that saw Harvey get his exit from town. He had struggled at times with the Reds, Angels and Royals since then.

Now he seems to have found his footing again in Baltimore, showing slight flashes of his old self from his early days here in New York. Now that he's back pitching on the Citi Field mound again as a visitor for the first time on Wednesday, it will be interesting to see what happens. Both for his performance and for the crowd reaction. The crowd reaction to Harvey return is going to be good. I mean hey he did quite a lot for this franchise before he kind of fell off at the end of his run here. Lets face facts it was an event when Harvey took the hill for the Mets. We get the same kind of reaction now whenever Jake takes the hill. The fans still have a certain level of respect for what Harvey did here.

The other thing to look at is how well he's actually going to pitch being back here. He's been pitching solid for Baltimore this year and its a big game in the standings for the O's. So it makes for compelling TV on Wednesday afternoon in Queens!