Matt Harvey faces Yankees, but the former Met isn’t the Dark Knight anymore

Because Matt Harvey’s somewhat resurrected career was on display Monday night during the Yankees’ visit to Camden Yards, let’s play a little game involving the Dark Knight and two members of the pinstriped rotation. These stats were before Harvey took the mound in the series opener.

Pitcher A: 4 GS … 1-1 … 19.1 IP … 5.12 ERA … 1.40 WHIP … $1 million salary.

Pitcher B: 4 GS … 0-2 … 15.0 IP … 5.40 ERA … 1.93 WHIP … $11 million.

Pitcher C: 4 GS … 0-2 … 17.1 IP … 6.23 ERA …. 1.27 WHIP … $2.25 million.

For those who guessed A for Harvey, congrats. You likely fall into the camp of Mets’ faithful still following the exploits of the former ace, and probably had a rooting interest in Harvey’s latest duel with the Yankees.

As for the other two on that list, the pair currently being out-pitched by Harvey, B is Corey Kluber and C is Jameson Taillon. Will those trends continue deeper into the season? We’d bet against it. Harvey still is trying to reinvent himself without a triple-digit fastball — the velocity stolen by his 2016 surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome — and that is a very challenging transformation, by his own admission.

Subscribe to Sports Now newsletter

By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.

Kluber is a two-time Cy Young winner working to shake off the rust from not pitching much since a third-place finish in 2018. Taillon, 29, has youthful upside in his favor, despite coming off two Tommy John operations, but he’s looking like a work-in-progress at this early stage of the season.

Harvey didn’t even sign with the Orioles until mid-February, and the Baltimore franchise — to put it nicely — is an organization barely above laying the foundation of their rebuild. Any team could have scooped up Harvey at minimal cost and yet he had to win a rotation spot in spring training, which he nailed down in the final week.

A month later, Harvey’s goal is hanging on, and he earned his first victory since 2019 with last week’s five-and-fly effort in a 7-5 win over the Marlins. It was definitely a scramble for Harvey, who allowed eight hits and three earned runs over those five innings, striking out four without a walk.

“It’s been a while,” Harvey told reporters afterward. “I actually can’t even remember the last one I had. With how last year went and not pitching very well, and getting a chance to come here and play, it means a lot. To be honest, I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen again.”

Between those two Ws, Harvey went 0-5 with an 8.16 ERA over eight starts and three relief appearances. He’s now on his fourth team since then-GM Sandy Alderson traded him to Cincinnati, and if Harvey can’t stick with the Orioles, this is probably the end of the line as far as major-league opportunities go.

Other than the mound mannerisms, Harvey is mostly unrecognizable now, with a fastball that averages 93.1 mph rather than the 96.6 in 2015, at the very height of his Knightly powers. At age 32, he’s become more of a pitcher, relying on guile to replace the intimidation factor, even though the emotional surge of squaring off against the Yankees had the potential to spark some of that old fire.

“I’m sure he’s thought about it,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said before Monday night’s game. “I think it’s a big deal for him. He had some great years there. I got to see the Dark Knight in ’15 in the playoffs [as a Cubs coach] and that was a cool moment. So I’m sure this is going to be a special night for him.”

Harvey had been effective at keeping teams in the ballpark, serving up only two homers over 19 1/3 innings, and it’s not surprising that both of them were at the hitter-friendly confines of Camden Yards. But if the Yankees’ history there holds true, Harvey’s night has the potential to be special for all the wrong reasons.

Since the start of the 2019 season, the Yankees have hit 50 home runs in 16 games at Camden Yards. And after a power outage for most of this month, they’ve hammered nine homers over their last four games, a recent trend that could be trouble for Harvey as he attempts to navigate the Yankees’ lethal lineup.

“I’d love to see him pitch deeper into games, I’d love to see him have less traffic,” Hyde said. “But he’s still working on things. It’s early in the season, and he’s still kind of getting his feet wet, so hopefully he continues to develop.”

For New York, Harvey will always be the Dark Knight, even if the cape and cowl are gone now. The Yankees were no doubt looking to play the villain in his comeback story Monday night.

By David Lennon @DPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball’s Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.