Matt Harvey’s first foray into playoff baseball is off to an inauspicious start.
The New York Mets held a mandatory workout Tuesday at Citi Field, but Harvey, who’s scheduled to start Game 3 of the National League Division Series, never showed.
How come? According to manager Terry Collins, the 26-year-old right-hander blamed the unexcused absence on traffic.
Harvey eventually did arrive at the ballpark, where he said he apologized to the team.
“Obviously, (Tuesday)Â was not the greatest,” Harvey told reporters, via ESPN.com. “I know we had a mandatory workout. The last thing I ever want to do is not be here with my team. Basically there’s no excuse. I screwed up. I wasn’t here. I showed up a little late. I’ve talked to (general manager) Sandy (Alderson) and I’ve talked to Terry and my teammates and apologized to them and apologized to everybody. They understand. I’m here to get my workout in and be with the team.
“Unfortunately, (Tuesday)Â I screwed up. There’s not really anything else to say. They know what happened. I told everybody and apologized to everybody and told them it’s not going to happen again. It’s never happened before. Unfortunately, it happened kind of at a bad time, a mandatory time. Truly, I just screwed up.”
This season’s playoff appearance is the Mets’ first since 2007, and team captain David Wright sounded none too pleased about his teammate’s no-show.
“You have to ask Matt,” Wright said, via ESPN.com “I’m concerned about the guys that are here. The guys that are here, we had a great workout. You’ll have to talk to Matt about that. We’re rolling. We’re clicking. Guys came in (Tuesday), took care of business, did what they need to do to prepare for Friday. I’m happy with that. I thought it was a good workout. You can only worry about what you can control. We had everybody else here. I thought everything went great.”
The Mets visit the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday.
Thumbnail photo via David Kohl/USA TODAY Sports Images
