Harvey still looking for answers after loss

NEW YORK — The ballpark may have been different, the deficit smaller, the team on the other side not quite so formidable, but on the one-month anniversary of Matt Harvey’s Opening Night start against the Royals, it was difficult not to notice that little has changed. Harvey is still struggling to retire batters in the middle innings, struggling to win games, struggling to rediscover his dominant form of old.

“I’m giving up more hits, more runs, more everything than I ever have,” Harvey said after allowing three runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings in Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to the Braves. “Obviously, it’s frustrating.”

Save for some slightly improved velocity, Tuesday’s stat line almost exactly mirrored the one that Harvey submitted Opening Night. In the four weeks since, he has worked tirelessly to fix a series of mechanical issues that both he and pitching coach Dan Warthen feel have undermined his season.

So far, nothing has worked, prompting some within the organization to ponder whether Harvey’s 2015 workload — a career-high 216 innings between the regular season and playoffs in his first year back from Tommy John surgery — may be having a lasting effect.

“We say the same thing once in a while …

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