In today’s Daily News, Jerry Manuel stated that the Mets must adjust to the dimensions of the ballpark in order to take full advantage of it.
To that, I would like to present Manuel (a.k.a. Captain Obvious) with a new award, the “Duh, me!” Award.
Of course, the Mets will have to adjust. They obviously haven’t adjusted to Citi Field offensively, having hit fewer than 50 home runs there. As a matter of fact, since the home run apple rises during the seventh inning stretch, fans attending games at Citi Field have been more likely to snap pictures of it during “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” than after an actual home run. As of Friday night’s game, the apple has risen 79 times during the seventh inning stretch and 49 times after home runs hit by Mets players.
Captain Obvious went on to talk about David Wright’s power failure at Citi Field this season. He made an interesting observation when he said,
“The real question is: Will David Wright come back and be the home run hitter that he is? That’s the only one that we’ve really been able to evaluate in this particular park and say, ‘Hey, we could have had this amount of home runs, but didn’t.’ ”
“How does that affect him going forward, or was there some mechanical, fundamental thing that he could have done differently to hit more home runs, on the road, or what have you? I don’t think we’ll make any adjustments as far as the ballpark goes, but as individuals and hitting programs go, there’s a possibility of some adjustments being made.”
Oh, really? What happened to that 80-pitch drill in spring training? You know the one. It’s the one where hitters were given 80 pitches to swing at in six minutes so they could hit to the opposite field naturally when they became fatigued during the drill.
The opposite field for David Wright at Citi Field is the bullpen and the Mo-Zone, or Death Valley. Whereas the opposite field for Wright at Shea Stadium was anywhere from 371 to 396 feet, Death Valley at Citi Field ranges from 378 to 415 feet.
Friday night’s game was an example of how Death Valley added another double to David Wright’s total instead of a home run. In the bottom of the first inning, Wright hit a ball that bounced just before the 415 sign in front of the Mets bullpen and bounced over for a ground-rule double. With one more double, Wright will have his fourth consecutive 40-double season, despite the fact that he will have played in fewer games this season than in the previous three 40-double campaigns due to his DL stint.
Is it possible that if players hadn’t been encouraged to hit the ball the other way so much in the 80-pitch drills, they might have hit with a little more power this year? Opposing players haven’t had much a problem hitting home runs at Citi Field. Just ask Mark Reynolds. He seemed to have made a few friends in the second deck of the left field seats when the Diamondbacks made their first and only visit to Citi Field by hitting four home runs in the three-game series.
I hope Howard Johnson plans to teach them how to pull when pulling the ball is warranted. After all, as any long-time Mets fan would know, no one pulled more home runs in a Mets uniform than HoJo. Maybe then, the home run apple will make more appearances during a home run trot than during Lazy Mary.
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Great job on this article. Manuel has become the master of overstating the obvious. While I enjoyed his post game appearances at first, I’ve since grown quite tired of them. His annoying habit of his bellowing laughs after a loss never sat right with me, and his dog house has had way too many occupants this past season. I’m not sure the Mets have the right person to lead this team. The Mets are as bad fundamentally in October as they were in April. There has been no signs of marked improvement.
Agreed. One good game does not change the report card. The bottom line results have been bad and Jerry has accomplished very little to reverse any of it. This article just goes to show how clueless he has been. If he had this view of David all along, why didn’t he take some constructive action to undo the damage which HE did?
MASK, HERE’S A CONSIDERATION OR 2 FACT: STARTING PITCHING SUCKED.
FACT: LESS THEN TWO THIRDS OF THE GAMES (102) WERE STARTED BY THE OPENNING DAY ROTATIONAL PITCHERS. FACT: MORE WOTK NEEDED TO BE PUT INTO PAGAN’S FUNDIMENTALS. QUESTION: EXACTLY HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD BE INVESTED IN THE FUNDIMENTALS FOR YOUR #5 OUTFIELDER? OR 7-12 SP? FACT: MOST OF THE PLAYERS IN THERE DAILY WERE IDENTIFIED AS “NOT GOOD ENOUGH” DURING ST. STATEMENT: JERRY SHOULD’VE BENCHED PLAYERS FOR STUPIDITY ON THER FIELD! QUESTION: WERE THERE SO MANY TALENTED CHOICES TO PLAY AS TO NEGATE USEING ONE OF THEM, TWO OF THEM, THREE OF THEM? ALL THE CRITICISMS WOULD CERTAINLY BE VALID IF, AS IN SO MANY YEARS PAST, THE PLAYERS BEING USED WERE INTENTIONAL CHOICES AND NOT DESPERATIONAL CHOICES. YET, DESPITE ALL OF THIS UNPRECEDENTED CARNAGE SOMEONE CERTAINLY SHOULD’VE FORESEEN A ONCE IN A LIFETIME CATASTROPHE. WHERE’S NOSTRASDAMUS WHEN U NEED HIM? CHOSEN FIRST ROTATION: SANTANA(25GS), PELFREY(31GS), PEREZ(14GS,MAINE(15GS),REDDING(17GS).
162/5 = 32.4GS PER
FACT: 15 OF BEST PLAYERS MIA FROM ST @ WBC REDUCING FUNDIES TIME.
Ed, Fabulous article. It is hysterical that Jerry has just figured this out. Where has he been and what games has he been watching? How convenient to forget that he personally trained and directed David to NOT hit HR’s!
There have been many opposing players able to hit HR’s at Citi. Mark Reynolds is a prime example, but most of the Phils lineup teed off with Howard, Utley, Rollins, Victorino and Werth having no problems in our Pitcher’s Park. In fact Gary Cohen labeled a setion of the OF stands as Utley’s section.
Pulling the ball is all in the feet. You pull the inside ball by opening your stance and you go to the opposite field with the outside pitch and closing your stance. David instead sticks his butt out and swings wildly on the oustside pitch. He can handle the inside pitch but just has not done it well this year, especially after being beaned. Let’s go HoJo share the secret with David and let’s get off the no HR diet!
By the way, you may have your Apple count wrong. Remember it was unable to perform reliably because of the recharge limitations on back to backs. We lost at least 1 Apple appearance for the Mets bacause of that and possibly 2.
Hojo was an average ballplayer and has no business discussing the science of hitting with anyone, much less being a hitting coach. He is one because David wants him to be the hitting coach. He is David’s biy, and he has done much to damage him. Met fans remember Johnson as being a better player than he actually was. A guy who could hit a low fastball. That is Hojo’s entire resume. A poor fielder with a strong arm and a little speed. A guy Sparky Anderson said could not handle pressure after trading him to the mets. And whether David is pulling or going the other way, the real mystery is where his bat speed has gone. Never the quickest bat, he has gotten blown away at times by 88 mph fastballs. Finally, Jerry is an idiot in love with the sound of his own voice. He is making up these press conference answers as he goes along, as the above article proves conclusively. That comment of Jerry’s is just diarrhea of the mouth. It makes no sense.
You’re right about Jerry; he is in love with his own voice. He just tries to come up with the fanciest words possible and dance around in generalities and say nothing. I like when he pauses to invent some BS and comes out with something totally worthless. It’s a joke listening to him.
Good article ED.
I’ve always said that Jerry Manuel is an idiot!!! He talks as if he is an outsider.
Ya know, we can all comment here and write our opinion of things the Mets needs to work on. So-called ‘experts’ on Baseball Tonight or Sports Center can give their opinion of things the Mets need to do and work on. Then, along comes Manuel and he does the same thing. Then again, he is on ‘the inside.’
We ‘outsiders’ see things but all we can do is talk about it, discuss it. But he is famous for pointing out things that should be done. Am I missing something but isnt he the manager???
Captain Obvious indeed
Captain Obvious…..I like “the Big Dummy” better. I think he, much like Omar and the rest of management thinks if they say the same thing everyone else has aleardy said or noticed the the fans will be duped into thinking they are aware and improving. To me, that is nothing more than a weak “Jedi mind trick”. Jerry really needs to be replaced so we can get back to baseball instead of pointing out how we need to correct problems that WE started.
A lot has been made of the offensive problems at Citi but what about our pitchers? I really haven’t seen the pitchers use the “pitchers park” this season. That outfield is big, you could pound the zone a little more than at Shea or other parks in the league. Santana seemed to do that in the beginning of the season but I guess once he lost his velocity due to this injury he couldn’t.
Exactly, instead of using their strength to pitch, they would rather aim to try to hit the corners. The result is walks are way up and our richly paid starter who hasn’t been seen since very much this year is quoted saying: “Walks are part of the game”. We already know that is how Warthen pitched and now that is how his staff pitches. Is there any connection? It must be concluded that a new pitching coach is a high priority.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
I’M SORRY; BUT IT’S NOT THE HITTING; IT’S THE PITCHING AT LEAST 12 SP, EVEN NOW WHEN ONE OF OUR 7-12 SP IN THE ROTATION GIVES A DECENT GAMES, WE WIN AS IN LAST 2G
DON’T BELIERVE ME?
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/stats/byteam?cat=Overall&sort=722
PER THE ABOVE, OUR TEAM BA OF .270 IS TIED ATOP THE NL WITH THE DODGERS, & OUR .277 W/RISP STANDS ALONE ATOP THE NL. IN IT’S 47 YRS I’VE WATCHED, THIS TEAM HAS NEVER BEEN ATOP THESE OFFENSIVE TYPE STATS BEFORE. EVEN DURING THE SUCKY 70s THEY HAD SOMEONE NEAR THE LEADERS IN Ks & CGs(SWANEY),KOSSMAN,MATLACK, BUT TEAM OFFENSE? NO THERE’S STILL A DIRTH OF HRs; BUT ISN’T IT “THE CHICKS WHO DIG THE LONGBALL?” THIS SEASON CERTAINLY HAS SUCKED THE BIGGEST ONE, THERE’S NO GETTING AROUND THAT, PERHAPS THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE AVOIDED IT WAS TO RELOCATE THE TEAM TO LOURDES(LMAO) IF U CHOOSE TO JUDGE BASED UPON 162 SEPERATE SEASONS, CERTAINLY EVERYONE & EVERYTHING SHOULD BE BLOWNUP FANS & PRESSCORPS INCLUDED WITH OWNERS,FRONTOFFICE,PLAYERS,FARM SYSTEM. FROM WHAT I CAN ASCERTAIN WE SUCKED IN MANY MORE PITCHING CATEGORIES THAN HITTING, YET EVERYONE FOCUSES ON HR & LACK THEREOF. .277 BA W/RISP AS A TEAM IS SUPRISINGLY GOOD; BUT MEANS NOTHING IF YOUR PITCHING ROTATION DOESN’T PROTECT LEADS. 12 SP? WHO DOES THAT? ESP SINCE PAST 2 SEASONS MAIN CULPRITS IN MIA (PEDRO,DUQUE) WEREN’T INVOLVED. MOST TEAMS SET THEIR ROTATIONS 1-5 IN A STRONG TO WEAK MANNER. OUR PRIMARY ISSUE HAS BEEN AFTER #1, OUR 2-5 FALL SHORT EVEN WHEN HEALTHY. A STRONGER #2 IS NECESSARY TO RESLOT THOSE THAT FOLLOW AGAINST WEAKER OPPONENTS. WHILE IT NEVEWR STAYS ON TURN, CHANGES ARE RARELY SO DRASTIC AS TO TOTALLY FLIP IT OVER. 1s GEN MATCHUP AGAINS OTHER 1s,2s OR 5s THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE SEASON. IF YOU START IN A MISMATCHED HOLE IT’S HARD TO RECOVER. BTW 6-12 SP(LIVAN,NIESE,NIEVE,MISCH,PARNELL,FIGGY, ETC.) WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO MATCHUP WITH ANY REGULARITY; BUT A WEEK NEVER WENT BY WITHOUT ONE OF THEM.
Certainly the SP’s haven’t gotten the job done, but don’t let hitting off the hook too easily. As you say, there are many offensive stats that the Mets have been very competitive this year. But you haven’t mentioned Runs Scored. You can’t win games without putting some crooked numbers up on the board. The Mets have been dismal at scoring runs. How much run support did Santana get? The fact is the Mets have been pitiful on both sides of the game, both pitching and hitting. How often have we seen no offense on well pitched days and poor pitching on the rare days of good offense? They have been bad on both counts and when you add in knucklehead plays on the field and clueless baserunning, you wind up with the dismal season we have just seen. Improvement is required in all facets of the game. The real question is what management should be in place to make this happen?