Mets hoping to start Matt Harvey on Friday after ban ends

NEW YORK -- Matt Harvey is likely to rejoin the New York Mets' rotation Friday atMilwaukeeafter serving a three-day suspension for not showing up at Citi Field for a game last weekend.

"You make a mistake. You stand up, be accountable, and move on. And you know what, people forget about it," Mets manager Terry Collins said Monday, a day after general manager Sandy Alderson revealed the discipline for the 28-year-old pitcher.

Collins said Harvey will return to the Mets on Tuesday and will have to explain what happened to his teammates. Collins said Harvey will decide "if he wants to do it in a group, which is the easiest, I always think, or if he wants to do it individually."

The suspension is costing Harvey $84,016 of his $5,125,000 salary. Collins says he expects Harvey's agent, Scott Boras, to challenge the discipline.Baseball's labor contract says any punishment must be for "just cause.''

"Matt made a mistake,'' outfielder Jay Bruce said. "People make mistakes. There are team rules, and when team rules are broken there are consequences that have to be served, and obviously that's happening.''

Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson was understanding.

"There's a number of reasons why he was not able to show up that day, and he knows exactly what that is, and obviously he's going to be able to address those things,'' Granderson said.

While the Mets refused to say Sunday what spurred the punishment, a source told ESPN's Buster Olney that Harvey did not show up to the park on Saturday. Collins went into more detail Monday.

"We have a policy here. We had to do something. Sandy did it," Collins said. "I respect it. I thought it was the right thing to do. I know it's dramatic, but I think any team in baseball would have probably reacted very similarly. And it wasn't just Matt Harvey. Anybody in that room that misses a day and nobody knows about it, we've got to do the same thing."

New York is coming off a weekend in which star pitcher Noah Syndergaard was put on the 60-day disabled list because of a torn lat muscle. The team was later embarrassed when it tweeted a photo of T.J. Rivera wearing the star-of-the-game crown in the clubhouse that included a clearly visible sex toy in backup catcher Kevin Plawecki's locker.

"We have gotten where we have gotten the last two years with all of the things that have happened here because we have a tremendous clubhouse," Collins said. "If you're talking about the pranks guys play on each other, that's part of the gig here, that's part of professional -- that's part of a clubhouse atmosphere. People outside don't like it, we really don't care. It's about our guys relaxing and having some fun."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.