Mets welcome back Matt Harvey with focus off the standings

THE CONTENTS: The Mets host the Reds for three games at Citi Field.

THE EPIGRAPH: “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” —Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight

THE EXPOSITION: Since their 25-4 debacle against the Nationals, the Mets have at least played competitive games. They’ve lost almost all of them, though, dropping three of four to the Braves to fall to 45-64 on the season. No team that had started 11-1 in the expansion era had ever fallen 19 games below .500 before.

Since their 3-18 debacle of a start to this season, the Reds have actually been over .500. If the season had started at that point, Cincinnati would be just 3.5 games out of a playoff spot. But the season started when the season started, and the Reds are 13 games out of a playoff spot at 49-63.

THE PITCHING MATCHUPS:

RHP Homer Bailey (1-8, 5.87 ERA) v. RHP Noah Syndergaard (6-2, 2.98 ERA)
RHP Sal Romano (6-9, 5.12) v. LHP Jason Vargas (2-7, 8.23)
TBA v. RHP Jacob deGrom (5-7, 1.85)

TBA! THAT MEANS HARVEY! The Reds have that opening because they sent down Tyler Mahle after another rough outing Wednesday, trimming their six-man rotation to five. But a rainout Friday means both Harvey and Anthony DeSclafani pitched Saturday, so they wouldn’t be ready to go Wednesday.

Matt Wisler, acquired from Atlanta in the Adam Duvall trade, could be a candidate to start for the Reds. He knows the Mets well.

HARVEY’S DUCKING THE METS! Yes, Harvey would be starting on three days’ rest otherwise. That’s cogent.

THE PROTAGONISTS: As if you didn’t know already, this past weekend was a nice reminder to forget the actual final score of Mets games and focus instead on what’s happening within them. In that regard, there was both good and bad in the series with Atlanta.

GOOD: Jeff McNeil’s four-hit night hinted at how his approach could play out in the majors, and how it might provide the Mets with something of a different look at the plate.

BAD: Amed Rosario went 1-for-10 in the series and he has two hits in his last 32 at-bats. The gains it appeared he was making right before the All-Star break haven’t shown up since. He’s OPSing .450 in the second half. Mickey Callaway said the Mets will look to give Rosario two days off per week so that he can spend more time working on things before the game. Having that in mind, Joel Sherman’s idea to send Rosario down to the minors — where he can work on self-improvement full-time — isn’t all that outlandish.

GOOD: Corey Oswalt showed once again he can be a viable back-end starter. Oswalt got his first taste of the seventh — an unsavory one — but has been basically a league-average starter his last five trips to the mound. He has a 3.81 ERA in that stretch, and he’s held down opposing batting average and on-base percentage. The BABIP is lower than it will be for much longer, and he’s allowed too many home runs, but there’s a big-league starter in there.

BAD: The same can’t yet be said for really any member of the Mets’ Quad-A bullpen. Tyler Bashlor allowed the game-winning homer to Nick Markakis, and things like that are going to happen over the final two months as New York attempts to see what it has in this army of hard-throwing right-handers on the cusp of the majors. No one has been particularly impressive so far.

THE ANTAGONISTS: You’ve got to give Jim Riggleman and the Reds credit for earning their way back to respectability after such a miserable start to the season. Cincinnati has gotten better starting pitching since the beginning of the year, and its offense is legit, ranking fourth in the NL in runs. Joey Votto is Joey Votto, Scooter Gennett showed last year wasn’t a fluke, and Eugenio Suárez might be the game’s most improved player in 2018. (That Suárez for Alfredo Simon trade is one of the most lopsided in recent baseball history.)

The Reds bullpen has been solid, as well, with perennial trade candidate Raisel Iglesias complemented by up-and-coming Amir Garrett and Michael Lorenzen as well as scrap-heap finds Jared Hughes and David Hernandez.

The question mark for Cincinnati as it moves forward with its rebuild is in the rotation, where it hasn’t seen any of its younger starters show consistency across the season. Luis Castillo is the best of them, but even he had a miserable April to wreck his overall season line. Mahle was very good for a stretch before being very bad of late, and DeSclafani hasn’t looked like his old self after missing 2017 with Tommy John surgery.

THE CONFLICT: Will the Mets give Matt Harvey a video tribute?

THE RESOLUTION: Yes, according to their game notes.

HOW SHOULD METS FANS FEEL ABOUT MATT HARVEY? Conflicted?

Regardless of how the last three years went, there’s no denying the seismic role Harvey played in uprooting this franchise and dragging it back to relevance in the middle of the decade — first once every five days, then every night deep into October. He performed with a swagger inconsistent with this franchise’s underdog ethos, though reminiscent of its brightest days in the 1980s.

That it ended sadly — and more quickly than anyone envisioned — merely emphasizes the ephemeral nature of all baseball success, especially in Queens. As I wrote back in May, Harvey embodied the full measure of what it has meant to be a Met — to promise, fulfill, frustrate and disappoint.

WHAT WAS HIS GREATEST MOMENT AS A MET? In the moment? It’s hard to top those few seconds in the top of the ninth of Game Five in 2015 when he hopped out of the dugout and Citi Field chanted his name.

WHAT WAS HIS GREATEST GAME AS A MET? Nothing comes particularly close to the bloody nose night against the White Sox when he allowed one hit and struck out 12 in nine shutout innings.

By GameScore, it is the fifth-greatest start ever by a Met — the second-best in nine innings behind only Tom Seaver’s 19-strikeout masterpiece against Philadelphia in 1971.

FUN WITH RECORDS: Here’s how these four teams fare in the standings this season:

RECENT SERIES HISTORY: The Reds took two of three from New York at Great American Ball Park in early May, right when the Mets started to accelerate their downfall. The Mets have won nine of their last 10 home games against Cincinnati, last losing a series to the Reds in Queens in 2013.

OUR NEXT SEGMENT IS CALLED: How are you feeling about On the Record? It doesn’t matter, because it’s the misguided title of a biography of famed British actor, Sir Alec Guinness.

THREE QUESTIONS WITH A BEAT WRITER: Today we’re talking with C. Trent Rosecrans, who covers the Reds for The Athletic. You should read Trent on what happens now with Matt Harvey in Cincinnati.

1. So Matt Harvey’s still there, eh? How’s this deal worked out from the Reds perspective?

ROSECRANS: Yeah, he is, which is surprising. I think that says the Reds see some value in him, even if the rest of baseball doesn’t share the same appraisal. He’s been a good teammate here and pitched well enough. This rotation struggled and he’s been somewhat of a steadying influence. His teammates in Cincinnati speak highly of him and the Reds like him going every five days. There’s still a chance he’s traded, DFA’d or stays the entire year. I’m done with my Matt Harvey guessing game.

2. Besides Harvey, what have been the biggest changes for Cincinnati since that disastrous start to the season?

ROSECRANS: They’ve gotten consistent starting pitching and the offense has been pretty good. Their bullpen has also been good. Solid starting pitching, solid offense, solid relief pitching — it’s a good combination.

3. Is 2019 looking like a legit possibility for contention now? Or is that still optimistic?

ROSECRANS: If everything comes together, if the team is healthy, if some of the younger starters take a step forward and if they find another starter or two in the offseason. That’s a lot of ifs — but it’s not a no. This would have been a no not so long ago, now it’s not far-fetched. That’s something, at least.

WHAT THE ATHLETIC IS TELLING YOU TO THINK: Let’s rebuild the Mets to contend in 2021.

PREDICTION TIME: Matt Harvey will get a tribute video. It will make you feel.

(Photo Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports)