Terry Collins’ message to all the folks wringing their hands over Matt Harvey’s slow start? Just chill.
The Mets’ struggling ace — who comes into Friday’s start in Atlanta 0-3 with a 5.71 ERA — is coming off a great bullpen session on Tuesday, and a conversation with pitching coach Dan Warthen had Collins confident a bounceback performance is on tap.
“He was very confident,’’ Collins said before the Mets’ 5-4, 11-inning loss to the Phillies. “He thought it was the best bullpen [Harvey] has had in a long time, so that was really good news.”
Warthen has implied it was a simple mechanical issue with Harvey’s back leg.
“I’m not a pitching coach. I believe in my pitching coach. He’s very, very good, and if that’s what he’s determined and they’ve got it fixed then Matt Harvey will be back,’’ said Collins. “The way we tried to get all those young guys ready for the season, he might have not done enough extra work in the bullpen.
“I still have all the confidence in the world he’s going to get it going and at the end of the year he’s going to be right where he always is, and that’s pitching great.”
Bartolo Colon (six innings, four hits, three runs, one walk and four strikeouts) took a no-decision Wednesday. He saw the bullpen blow a 4-3 lead and a shot at his 220th win, which would have pushed him past Pedro Martinez for the second-most by a Dominican-born pitcher.
“I actually thought the last two innings were [Colon’s] best two innings, but he had to work very hard early in the game and when he got near 90 pitches we figured that was enough with how hard he had to work, because he really didn’t have his best command and when he doesn’t that’s news for him,’’ Collins said.
Jacob deGrom will throw a bullpen session Friday in Florida, meet the Mets Saturday and start Sunday against the Braves.
After going his first 11 games without a homer, Lucas Duda went deep in his third straight. The only other time he had done that was Sept. 25-29, 2015.
Logan Verrett (1-0, 0.69) won’t be available until Saturday after starting and pitching six scoreless innings on Tuesday.
Collins said the infield defense of second baseman Neil Walker and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera has exceeded his expectations.
“I’ve seen a lot better defense than I thought. They are very, very good those two guys,’’ Collins said. “They’ve played great.’’