Zack Wheeler's enemy, even more than the Mets' opponents, is currently Matt Harvey.
Terry Collins tried to portray Harvey's mercurial ascension to ace of the entire sport as a blessing for Wheeler. The implication is Harvey has been so great so quickly and with such fanfare that he provides cover, not competition, for Wheeler.
In the Mets' manager's words, "you don't have to match Matt Harvey pitch for pitch."
But that is a dream world, and even Collins knows it. Because while chatting before yesterday's game, he conceded that with all the negativity that has encircled the franchise "you have to sell something." That something is a battalion of young arms, of which Harvey was first over the mountain and Wheeler the second.
Paul J. Bereswill
ZACK ZAPPED: Zack Wheeler, wiping away some sweat during his Citi Field debut, was tagged for five runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Nationals.
Like it or not, fair or unfair, Wheeler will be assessed on the Harvey scale: The younger brother trying to keep up with the elder prodigy. The second guy over the mountain attempting to provide more reason for hope to a fan base yearning for any sign that tomorrow will be better.
The fans bought in yesterday, for David Wright bobblehead dolls and Wheeler's Citi Field debut. They filled most of the place and cheered loudly, believing they were at the outset of something special. But what began with Wheeler on the mound and hope in the air ended with backup catcher Anthony Recker pitching and the Nationals humiliating the Mets, 13-2.
Wheeler's part was five runs on six hits (two homers), two walks and five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Want a silver lining for a game that ended under dark clouds, both literally and figuratively? Well, Wheeler's third major league start statistically looked like Harvey's last year — five runs, eight hits (two homers), one walk, five strikeouts in five innings. And Harvey was working in the pitching nirvana of Petco Park in San Diego.
But in late April, when the Nationals were last at Citi, overjoyed Met fans chanted "Harvey's better" to set the record straight on his showdown with Washington's Stephen Strasburg. They could have repeated that yesterday, friendly fire that Wheeler is no Harvey — no matter how badly the organization and fan base wants to click their heels and make it so.
Again, it is not fair. Harvey is just 14 months older. But he has the early career refinement edge in having gone to college and, as opposed Wheeler, who grew up in Georgia, Harvey has the instant understanding of the rules of engagement here, having grown up in Connecticut.
But mostly it is this — Harvey is unique. Even now, for example, Collins is uncertain how Harvey's repertoire improved last year from the minors to the majors, and then jumped another level between 2012 and 2013. Even with that five-run game last year in San Diego, Harvey has never been an apprentice. He belongs to the rare class that avoids significant growing pains, that shows up a star and never deviates. At least not yet.
Wheeler is in the more familiar class, "a work in progress" as his manager put it.
In fact, it might be the Mets gave into the fan/media demands for tacit embodiments that this rebuild is working and rushed Wheeler before his time. For after a dominant, two-strikeout, 1-2-3 first inning yesterday, in which his fastball was consistently 95-98 mph, Wheeler's velocity dropped palpably.
Wheeler cited a between-starts tinker to keep his front side closed, catcher John Buck explained it was because he was calling for more two-seamers to better pound the bottom of the zone. Either way, those sound like items you strive to perfect in the minors, not incorporate on the run in major league start No. 3.
Wheeler also conceded, "I've always struggled with fastball command."
Sure enough, he yielded three particularly hard-hit balls — an Adam LaRoche homer and a Denard Span RBI double in the second, and a Jayson Werth homer in the third. A scout who has watched Wheeler in both the majors and minors said each came on "a mid-cut elevated fastball. It's not good enough to just throw strikes, you have to stay away from the middle of the plate at this level no matter how hard you throw. Command will be the determining factor in how far Wheeler goes. He needs to locate his fastball to the edges with more reliability."
Even Wheeler conceded, "I am starting to learn the hard way you can't get away with the mistakes up here, like you can down there."
Still, when asked, he dismissed the notion of extra pressure to honor the trail blazed by Harvey. Nevertheless, it is hard to ignore that he is supposed to be the sidekick of hope, No. 2 with a bullet. The second sign of a better tomorrow. Soon.
Instead, Harvey's quick genius has left Wheeler a comparatively unwelcome Matt.
joel.sherman@nypost.com
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