And God said, Let the frozen waters from the heaven be melted unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Target Field; and the grouping together of the opponents he called Twins: and God saw that they weren’t so good.
And God said, Let Harvey bring forth heat, the arm yielding strikes, and the slider hitting spots after his fastball, which is a seed unto itself, upon the mitt of Buck: and it was so good.
And Target Field brought forth no hits in the bottoms of innings, and the arm yielded strike after strike, fastball and slider hitting spot after spot, the seed unto itself landing upon the mitt of Buck; we all saw it was so good.
And then the serpent that is Morneau; the temptation is to say he was the snake who spoiled paradise in the bottom of the seventh with two out when he turned unto a slider that did not hit its spot and did not land upon the mitt of Buck, but rather clanked off the pole of foul; yet Morneau cannot spoil that which is only now being created into something so sacred as the turn of the Metropolitan Rotation toward the next Day of Harvey.
And the afternoon of not quite the Second No-Hitter in the History of the New York Mets was the Third Day of Harvey of Twenty Thirteen.
And it was good.
Amen.
It was good. Blessed be the Mets who shall inherit the pennant.
Good fun. Keep it up.
I saw Tom Seaver pitch, but was too young to really appreciate him…Rusty and Kingman were my favorite players. Of course I saw Doc…he was two days older than me. Doc’s birthday is Nov. 16…Seaver’s Nov. 17…mine is Nov. 18. Doc’s two years were amazing…by 1986 he was already not the same, but nobody cared because we blew away the NL. We have always wished Doc could have stayed clean and healthy and that would have been some ride. I believe we now have another chance to re-live having a Met be the best pitcher in baseball. The standard is 1985 and Seaver’s most dominating year was 1971.
I saw Seaver many times growing up, but this game is the one I remember the best:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS198609030.shtml
It was 1986 and I was living up the street from Fenway. Tom Seaver was set to pitch against Bobby V.’s Rangers. It looked like rain; my girlfriend and I walked up to the ticket window (no line) at game time and asked for the two best seats. “Is behind home plate good enough for yah?” said the crusty old man. We were in the second row, looking over the ump’s shoulder.
Seaver pitched an 8 inning, 2 ER gem. Bob Stanley came into pitch the ninth and promptly gave up the game-tying run. In the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitter Mike Greenwell hit a single. Speedy LaSchelle Tarver (whom the Mets had sent to the Sox in the Ojeda trade) pinch ran. Wade Boggs hit a seeing eye double to left-center. Tarver came all the way home from first at the same time as the throw. Play at the plate! Safe! Sox win! Fenway goes nuts.
Stanley gets the BS, and the win. Seaver: no decision.
The next night, we were back to see the Sox play the Mets in a Jimmy Fund charity exhibition game.
Great story…the top Seaver games I saw in person:
1) His imperfect game 1969 vs. Cubs…I was only 4…just remember sitting on the concrete steps in the upper deck and hearing a lot of loud cheering
2) His 300th win at YS…almost our whole section was ejected due to Met fans fighting with Yankee fans
3) His return opening day 1983
4) Labor Day 1975 when he struck out 200 for the 8th straight season, new MLB record.
I think this guy’s The Real Thing…
I hope this guy’s The Real Thing…
It’s just that for years, we’ve been told that The Real Thing was guys with names like Pulsipher and Wilson and Valera and Holman and Hillman and Heilman and Seo and Pelfrey and one of the Bobby Joneses and…
…I just get a little careful about calling anyone The Next Seaver that quickly.
But it will be fun finding out. This kid’s got as good a chance as any.
Oh, it was damn good. Real damn good.
As much fun as a no-no would have been, imagine the subsequent expectations had it actually happened. Trying to stay grounded, seen too many high expectation/low reward pitchers over the years (open the gates cites several shining examples, I’ll add West and Bittiger and Leary and Mitchell and even Swan, we’ve got no shortage of them). 8 innings of 2-hit ball in start #13, I’ll take it and enjoy it and look forward to his next turn in the rotation.
Appreciate the shout-out, Dave. I will say, I don’t know that I’d lump Craig Swan together with all the Bittigers and Ownbeys of Met history. I don’t know about being the Next Seaver, but Swannie could have had a stellar career were it not for injuries. Ditto his sidekick, Pat Zachry.
Of course, the fact that those two perennially had No. One. Else. in their rotation probably didn’t help matters any. I mean, no one ever accused the likes of Pete Falcone of being the Real Thing.
No less an authority than Doc himself tells us Harvey’s nickname should be “The Real Deal.”
I do not want to, nor can I say he is going to be Tom Seaver, but I get the impression that his demeanor is much what Seaver brought to the Mets’ clubhouse when he walked in back in 1967, that losing and mediocrity are not acceptable. I sat and watched his attempt at pitching glory, and got the feeling, even if he had completed the no hitter he would have been as upset about the two walks (at least one was on four pitches) as he was happy about the no hitter.
I admit, I am using a comparison based on learning about history because I was not old enough to know in actuality (I was only three in 1967)…but that is where I will compare the two…certainly in 13 starts, it is way too early to start making those comparisons but it sure is fun to think about being around for the beginning of what might be a great career. I love the fact that he pitches up and in, he throws hard enough, but I hope that this pitching style will spread to the other pitchers. And not to mention every five days, the Mets will be the must see…
Verily, verily, I say unto you. We’re getting another no-no soon. And its author shall be Harvey. Good day.
Well, let’s hope Harvey “authors it” as a New York Met. See: Seaver, Gooden, Cone, Ryan, and (gag) Humber.
Much bigger gag – Mike Scott.
Hi Greg,
Will not compare Matt’s mechanics and stuff to that of the Franchise but he does remind me of how we saw Seaver progress during his rookie year of 1967 – one whose maturity on the mound was far ahead of itself. Let’s hope the progression continues without the interuption of a 2018 version of Dick Young.
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