Mets’ Matt Harvey, not Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, is All-Star starter

NEW YORK -- San Francisco Giants Manager Bruce Bochy, the manager of the National League All-Star team, left Dodgers phenom Yasiel Puig off the team. In the days before the team was announced, Bochy explained that he could not justify picking a player who had three great weeks over one who had three great months.

On Monday, Bochy selected Matt Harvey of the New York Mets as the NL starting pitcher, bypassing Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers. In essence, Bochy picked a pitcher who had three great months over one who had three great years.

The Mets are playing host to the All-Star Game.

“Harvey had a great first half,” Bochy said after a news conference Monday. “This is Citi Field. It’s great for baseball and great for the fans of this club that he is the guy. He is very well deserving of this honor.

“Kershaw, Wainwright, all of those guys were candidates. I just think we’ve got the perfect guy, with the year he’s had, and he plays for the Mets.”

Earlier, during the news conference to unveil the starting lineups, Bochy said Harvey would have been the starting pitcher even if the game had not been played in New York.

“It wouldn’t have mattered what city we were playing in with the year he’s had,” Bochy said.

Kershaw, 25, is 8-6 with a 1.98 earned-run average. He is on pace to become the first player since Greg Maddux to lead the major leagues in ERA for three consecutive years. Maddux did it in 1993-95, for the Atlanta Braves.

Kershaw leads the league in ERA, shutouts (two), fewest hits per nine innings (6.0), and fewest hits and walks per inning (0.9).

Harvey, 24, in his first full season, is 7-2 with a 2.35 ERA. He leads the league in strikeouts. He started 10 games for the Mets in the second half last season.

Max Scherzer of the Detroit Tigers will start for the AL. Scherzer is 13-1 with a 3.19 ERA. He is tied with Matt Moore of the Tampa Bay Rays for the major league lead in victories, but Scherzer’s ERA ranks ninth in the AL -- and 26^th in the majors -- among qualifying pitchers.

Said AL Manager Jim Leyland of the Tigers: “13-1 Max Scherzer. I don’t think I need to explain any more.”