DENVER -- Call it a sophomore slump. This might be his fourth big league season, but it's his second since missing all of 2014 to Tommy John surgery. And Matt Harvey is having the toughest stretch he's had in baseball since a brief bad patch in his sophomore year at the University of North Carolina.
Harvey took a 5-2 loss against the Rockies on Friday night, and though lesser pitchers might be happy to have held Colorado to only five runs, for Harvey -- who had dominated Colorado to the tune of 22 consecutive scoreless innings pitched against them -- the outing was a bitter pill to swallow.
"I'm just not feeling comfortable throwing the baseball right now, so it's frustrating," Harvey said. "It's something I've obviously done my whole life, going on the mound and throwing a baseball, and right now, it's not an easy task. I've got to keep my head down, keep focused and keep pushing to figure it out."
Harvey yielded 11 hits, his second-highest career total and the most since coming back from surgery.
The third time through the batting order was the charm for Colorado, which did its damage in the middle innings. The lineup went 4-for-9 against the right-hander, contributing to three total runs in the fifth and sixth innings. It fit a pattern for Harvey, as teams had hit .513 against him this season in their third time through the order.
"Maybe it's just the opposing hitters getting more comfortable in the box after seeing him one time around," said catcher Kevin Plawecki. "There's still some things we need to work on. Maybe switching up some of our pitch selection, and that's on me."
Harvey admitted the challenge of meeting his struggles may have led him to overanalyze himself on the hill.
"I think that has a lot to do with it," Harvey said. "Right now, I'm just not feeling great out there. You start overthinking pretty much everything. That's the way it kind of feels every pitch, and hopefully we can get past that."
Manager Terry Collins showed both confidence in and empathy for his pitcher.
"It is hard," Collins said. "I heard a great statement the other day. 'There's two kinds of players in this league: Ones who have been humbled, and ones who will be.' When it's your turn, it's tough to take sometimes. You got to learn how to adjust to it, and you got to learn how to bounce back."