NEW YORK _ The Dark Knight days seem so long ago after two seasons of injuries and poor pitching. But Matt Harvey has a chance to write a better script in 2018.
It doesn't have to revolve around a flamethrowing, top-of-the-rotation superhero. A reliable third wheel to complement Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom would do just fine for the Mets.
After flashing some positive signs in spring training, Harvey had a chance to make a nice first impression in the regular season Tuesday night in the opener of an abbreviated two-game series against the Phillies at Citi Field.
The conditions were bad: 40 degrees at first pitch, 12-mph wind, misty, very sparse crowd for support. But Harvey was good. The 29-year-old right-hander fired off five innings of no-run, one-hit work. He didn't earn a win. The Mets did, though. They allowed only two more hits and won, 2-0, to improve to 3-1.
Harvey's first start in his final season before free agency also included five strikeouts and only one walk. Fifty-five of his 86 pitches landed in the strike zone.
His career, of course, took a wrong turn in 2013 with Tommy John surgery and again in 2016, when he was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and underwent surgery that July, ending a season in which he went just 4-10 with a 4.86 ERA.
The aftershocks continued last season when he lost 2{ months to a stress injury to the scapula in his right shoulder. He returned in September and finished with a 6.70 ERA, the worst for a season in Mets history by a pitcher throwing at least 90 innings.
But Harvey just finished his Grapefruit League work with two straight strong starts and made a good first impression on his new manager, Mickey Callaway.
"I love his slider," Callaway said. "His velo and location on his fastball both have been really good throughout spring training ... He's armed with enough weapons to where if they can eliminate one pitch, he's still going to be OK."
Callaway said he didn't know much about Harvey's suspension last May after he didn't show for a game.
"He's been unbelievable throughout spring training," Callaway said. "He's been a great teammate. He's worked his tail off. So he's a model citizen as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad he's on our team."
After throwing a 1-2-3 first with one strikeout, Harvey allowed a leadoff single to Rhys Hoskins in the second. But the next three Phillies went down, the last two swinging through four-seam fastballs, one at 92 mph and the other at 93 mph.
Philadelphia (1-3) had a runner at second with one out in the third, but Harvey got Cesar Hernandez swinging at a 93 mph fastball and got Carlos Santana to foul out on a changeup. Harvey issued a leadoff walk and nothing else in the fourth, then breezed through the fifth before leaving for a pinch hitter.
The Mets also weren't getting much done out there in the cold against Ben Lively. But he finally cracked in the sixth.
Yoenis Cespedes got hit by a pitch, moved to second on a groundout and scored when Todd Frazier rocked a double to the gap in left-center. Then with two outs and Frazier on third, Travis d'Arnaud lined an RBI single into center, ending Lively's night.
Jerry Blevins (1-0) had cleaned up a two-on, two-out mess for AJ Ramos in the sixth. Then Seth Lugo provided two innings of perfection. The Phillies had runners at the corners with one out in the ninth against Jeurys Familia before he nailed down his second save.
