CC Sabathia prepares for Subway Series showdown with Matt Harvey

But once the Mets went to the soft part of their bullpen, the Yankees quickly erased a 1-0 deficit. Take it as a loss that the Mets can afford, however circumstances would be different if their lead over the Nationals was a game or two.

Beltran maintains jeering from Mets’ fans bother him “not at all“.

The Yankees are 2 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division, 2 in the loss column, and are now in Toronto for the last head-to-head series of the season.

New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia delivers in the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets in New York, Sunday, September 20, 2015. There is a perspective that Harvey would rather not have it this way, and of course every Mets fan in the house would not have it this way either. “Sunday Night Baseball. Yankees-Mets”.

“I always want to be out there and the last thing I want to do, especially in a close game like that, is come out”, Harvey said.

The Colorado starter has allowed a majors-most 32 home runs despite spending six weeks on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. “I was coming back”. “I always want to be out there”.

“More than anything, I want to be out there”, he said.

With that near-perfect performance, he now has a 1.25 ERA with 24 strikeouts in three Subway Series starts. The teams had never played a regular-season series this late in the calendar, and Friday night’s game was the first time the teams had played when both were at least 15 games over.500. The questions are in bold while Collins’ answers are in italic.

The game unraveled in the sixth when reliever Hansel Robles replaced Harvey. It all seemed disconcerting for the Mets, who otherwise have been counting down to a playoff berth.

“You either adjust to it or you get out”, he said about the rules he needs to respect. “I guess we’ve got to deal with it”.

Girardi pulled Pineda after he struck out center fielder Yoenis Cespedes with his 86th pitch of the game and called on Wilson to face left-handed-hitting second baseman Daniel Murphy, who was 1-for-2 against Pineda.

But the Boras battle made that preference go the other way.

The New York Mets aren’t sure how many more starts they will get out of ace Matt Harvey, but they hope for something special from the right-hander in the rubber match of a three-game series with the visiting New York Yankees on Sunday.

Ackley and the Yankees were aware that Harvey was throwing well.

“We needed his offense”, Girardi said.

After the game, Harvey was asked by reporters what say he had in his innings limit from here on out. Both Harvey and Collins said they would have handled Sunday’s game differently if it had come in the postseason.

There is one thing that would, I guarantee you, make Matt Harvey throw workload limits to the wind and go out and take the ball without hesitation: security.

My point is that I am not fond of the idea that we can see this happen in a playoff game, which brings me to my next area of concern. That’s always been on my mind. The first pitch was thrown out by former Mets star C Mike Piazza….

The Yankees, deprived of their designated hitter Alex Rodriguez on this alien turf, scratched out a run in the first, which was matched by Lucas Duda’s homer in the second.

As it might have been, Harvey’s pitch number through five innings was low (77), however not sufficiently awesome .

In case there is any doubt about the stress Harvey’s innings limitations is placing on team officials, manager Terry Collins twice referenced his job status after the game.