NEW YORK -- Mets right-hander Matt Harvey is still searching for answers to his sluggish start to the season.
"I'm giving up more hits, more runs -- kind of everything -- more than I ever have," Harvey said after Tuesday's 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves. "Obviously, it's frustrating. I've got to keep working."
Harvey was charged with three runs on eight hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings Tuesday. He also uncorked two wild pitches. He dropped to 2-4 with a 4.76 ERA.
"Right now, I'm not feeling good with my mechanics. I'm not feeling good throwing the ball," Harvey said. "It's frustrating. I think I've said it before: I'm the one who is most frustrated here about what's going on. It's been a frustrating start, but we have a long way to go."
Harvey logged 216 innings last season. That was the most ever by a major league pitcher in a first season back from Tommy John surgery. Manager Terry Collins acknowledged postgame Tuesday that there could be a carryover from last season's workload, though Harvey refuted that suggestion.
"I don't think so," Harvey said. "I hadn't really looked into that. My body doesn't feel bad. I don't feel tired. I don't feel any downside from the workload last year. I think it's, right now, I'm just in a little funk with my mechanics. We're working to get rid of that."
Harvey's struggles have not come from a lack of work between starts.
"I'm putting in so much work during the week that maybe I'm doing too much. Maybe I'm not," Harvey said. "At this point, there's a lot of questions and a lot of answers I'm kind of looking for. I'm out there feeling for every pitch, and it's frustrating. I'm going through one of those times right now where everything feels different. Being on the mound, it's tough. ... I've looked at so much video that there's only so much you can look at. You've just got to find it, and it starts tomorrow."
Harvey's fastball velocity continues to underwhelm compared to in previous seasons. He averaged 93 mph Tuesday.
"He hit 95 tonight a couple of times and might have even hit 96 once or twice," Collins said. "Because he usually pitches at 96, 97, we think there's something wrong. And I'm not sure there is. He and [pitching coach Dan Warthen] are trying to straighten out a couple of things. He's throwing quite a bit on the side to try to get a feel for his release point and a feel for what they're trying to do. It doesn't just happen overnight."
The power-deficient Braves posted a fifth-inning solo homer from Mallex Smith and two more runs against Harvey the following inning before he was knocked out with two outs and his pitch count at 100. Harvey has particularly unraveled in the middle innings this season. He now has a 6.00 ERA in the fifth inning and a 20.25 ERA in the sixth inning.
Collins said Harvey had been ill the day before his start and required pregame fluids Tuesday. But Harvey downplayed that as a factor in his latest struggles.
"It's not feeling good with my mechanics, not feeling good on the mound," he said. "That's the tough part. That's what's frustrating. Right now, I'm just waiting to figure it out. Like I said, I'm the one who is most frustrated here."
Said Collins: "We expect perfection, and you're not going to get it. He's going to be fine. I've said it -- it's a work in progress -- I don't have all the answers, except not everybody is going to be good every night. As it starts to get a little nicer and a little bit warmer, then we'll make a determination if the arm strength is going to come back or it's going to be one of those years where, due to all the innings last year, we're going to see the effects of it."