Matt Harvey extends greetings, along with a middle finger, on Twitter

Matt Harvey says he "can't believe it's been six months already" since Dr. James Andrews performed Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery on his right arm. To commemorate the anniversary Tuesday, or half-anniversary, Harvey sent a NSFW tweet of a vintage photo — which he since has deleted — of him laying in recovery at the hospital. Gown and cap. With his left middle finger extended.

Nottafinga!

[UPDATE: First the tweet, and now Harvey's entire Twitter account seems to have been deleted. Hopefully, Harvey himself won't be deleted next.]

The New York Mets must not have liked it. Perhaps grandmothers everywhere wouldn't like it. Maybe you don't like it, because it's vulgar. But look at it this way, imagine the outrage if somebody we "didn't like" — such as Bryce Harper, or heaven forbid Yasiel Puig or Carlos Gomez, sent a similar photo. Heck, if Puig had posted himself giving the finger to Twitter, secret authorities might be repatriating him to Cuba at this very moment. (Well, "Cuba.")

But we "like" Harvey, so "we" let it go. Here's what Harvey probably was thinking: "I'm not going to let this surgery get me down, no matter how daunting the task might be of rehabbing and returning to the mound. [The heck with you], Tommy John surgery!" And that's not a bad sentiment to have at all. Plus, among people of Harvey's age, there's an irreverent, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin way of being that's a little more... well, irreverent.

Plus also too, the Mets seem — from the outside — kind of oppressive when it comes to speech. They've gotten on Harvey's case before about what he says, how he says it and who he talks to, so they've helped cultivate a bit of a rebel here. Not that Harvey was sticking his middle finger at Mets management. Nobody is saying that. Well, somebody might be saying that somewhere. Somebody's probably doing that somewhere.

More MLB coverage at Yahoo Sports:

- - - - - - -

David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rdbrown@yahoo-inc.com and follow him on Twitter!