Mental side of Matt Harvey’s slump is a puzzle

8:13 PM ET

An overpowering roar from nearly 45,000 New York Mets fans carried Matt Harvey out to the Citi Field mound to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series.

Harvey had talked his way into pitching. Facing elimination, he was going to complete his 2-0 shutout and send the series back to Kansas City.

But what has happened since then is a bit of a puzzle, and it’s one the Mets and Harvey have not been able to solve. Harvey didn’t have his best fastball in the ninth inning of that eventual defeat, and he hasn’t had his best fastball since then.

He’s no longer hitting 97 mph on the radar gun, but now regularly dotting 94 and 95, and is thus much more hittable than he’d been in the past. Harvey has run off three straight awful starts, in which he has given up 16 earned runs in 13 1/3 innings.

The Mets have publicly pronounced that Harvey’s issues are mechanical and not physical. But is it possible that some of his issues are in his head? Manager Terry Collins noted that Harvey looks like a different pitcher in the bullpen than when he’s facing batters in games.

What is Harvey going through right now? He’s not talking, leaving us to guess how he’s doing. But multiple people, including former Mets TV analyst Bob Ojeda and Baseball Tonight’s Dallas Braden, think he might be carrying some lingering guilt from being unable to complete the ninth inning of Game 5.

“And that’s unfair, because [wanting the ball in the ninth inning is] what you would want in an ace,” said Braden, who formerly pitched for the Athletics. “But now he’s on the shakiest ground he’s ever found himself on. He doesn’t know who he is. He can’t roll out the ‘Dark Knight’ persona. He’s not throwing 100. He’s throwing 94. He’s flipping a coin trying to figure out who he is.

“The biggest question he’s dealing with is: Is this permanent?”

The Mets don’t provide media access to their mental skills coach, Will Lenzner, so it’s …

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