Matt Harvey trolls the Mets in his return to New York

The Mets and Reds will be below the radar when they take the field this week, but the Mets and Matt Harvey have made a bit of news.

Entering the opener of their three-game series Monday night, the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds are a combined 32.5 games out of first place in their divisions. So there will be no implications on the standings, except perhaps in the race for the first overall pick next June, but the Mets and Matt Harvey are back in the news together.

After a brief demotion to the bullpen didn’t work out, the Mets traded Harvey to the Reds back in May and he has a 4.79 ERA over 15 starts for the Reds. But over an eight-start stretch from mid-June through the end of July, he allowed three runs or less over at least five innings seven times. “The Dark Knight” is probably not coming back, but Harvey has at least become something resembling a functional pitcher again.

Harvey’s first return to New York is noteworthy on some level, warranted or not, so a podium session with the local media is in order. On that note, the Mets reportedly made a request to the Reds and Harvey on Sunday, but it will not be honored.

The Mets don’t want Harvey’s media session on Monday to directly conflict with manager Mickey Calloway’s. That’s a reasonable (if a bit trivial) request to make, but Harvey has no obligation to honor it and has chosen to ignore  it.

Harvey’s last start came in the second game of a doubleheader against the Washington Nationals on Saturday. So he’s not even scheduled to start against his former team, and barring a game that goes significant extra innings odds are he won’t be seen outside of the opposing dugout at Citi Field.

Harvey’s circumstance is unique. But leave it to the Mets to make news for something as lame as conflicting media availability for an opposing player, and one who’s not even going to pitch to boot.