Mets Power Outage? No Problem.

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• Squidoo June 12, 2011 at 8:55 am

  The problem hasnt been the park it’s been our players. Other teams have no problem hitting it out of the park.
  • Pete June 12, 2011 at 11:53 am

    What we see here is a team learning to play “small ball”. That is something no Met team has been able to play for quite a long time. It happens to make for a very fun brand of baseball, so to all these people whining about Citi being too big, should get off it, it’s a non-issue. Baseball is baseball, and good baseball doesn’t have to mean lotsa homeruns.
• t agee June 12, 2011 at 10:00 am

  The fence has not been the problem, it’s been our lineup. 2009 featured such hitters as Cory Sullivan, Omir Santos, Luis Castillo, Ryan Church, Brian Schneider, Alex Cora on an everyday basis. Pagan and Murphy were just establishing themsleves and went through stretches of slump and injury. Wright was the one guy you weren’t going to let beat you in that lineup.

  2010 started with an assortment of players unnable to get themselves into hitters counts like Barajas, Francouer, Jacobs, Cora, other punchless “hitters” Castillo, GMJ ,Feliciano, Thole, a very rust Beltran and an in decline Bay for 2/3rds of the year.

  This year two of the guys we were counting on the most for HR’s have been out and being replaced by guys who in their best years won’t hit a lot. Plus it’s been a little cool and rainy at times this year (like in 2009) so far. Emaus, Thole, Tejada, Murphy, Turner, Paulino, Pagan, Reyes don’t really scare you as far as the HR threat goes so that’s not going to help Wright, Beltran (or Bay)

  The fact is other teams haven’t had a huge problem dialing 9 at Citi. Remember Tulowitski? Chippers blast? Montero? How about Stanton’s into the CF stands? Middle infielders like Desmond, Fontenot, Herrera, Espinosa, Walker, Turner have homered here while not hitting very many anywhere else. Nickeas, Navarro and Hairston got one here. They haven’t hit any anywhere else in the Majors or the minors.

  The average NL stadium has given up 1.68 HR’s per game while Citi has given up 1.53 and that’s with two of our 3 main HR threats out half the season so far and the other one not hitting HR’s anywhere. If Delgado, Beltran, Wright and Davis hadn’t missed so many games we would have had plenty of HR’s at Citi Field. No cheapies, but plenty of them.

  The answer is more professional hitters in the lineup and more reserves that can step in (and step up) when the inevitable injuries hit your starters.
• Kranepool7 June 12, 2011 at 10:29 am

  The wall in left field is too high 16 feet I believe, thats why our right handed hitters Wright and Bay cant pull the ball. They changed their swings becaise of it and now theyre both messed up.
  • Pete June 12, 2011 at 11:45 am

    That’s their problem. If that is the case, they should forget about things they can’t control and get back to hitting a baseball. They each make millions of dollars a year to be professional baseball players, it’s about time they started playing like it.
  • t agee June 12, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    Do right handed hitters in Fenway stop trying to hit line drives because of the Monster? No way. I only remember one Met hitting the wall on a fly this year. Turner. It’s also the soft stuff that’s winding up in the stands. The changeup, hangers, not the FB. That tells me it’s the hitters not the fence. If we have good young professional hitters who consistently get into 2-0 and 3-1 counts (or look for a specific pitch on 0-0) we’ll hit plenty of HR’s. Right now though all we’ll be doing is giving up more HR’s if we bring in the fences. No one in our everday lineup at the moment is a real HR hitter except Bay and those days are over for him. Maybe Duda but do you believe he’s going to get something to hit out in close game? Not unless it’s a mistake.

    Stanton would have been a huge advantage for us if we had drafted him. No park can hold him and we would have had 80 M to resign Reyes.

    There are very few cheapies at Citi. Get over it.
    • Pete June 12, 2011 at 12:18 pm

      I thought it was supposed to be a man’s game?
    • Justin Silberman June 12, 2011 at 12:24 pm

      Yeah and the Monster is only 315 to get there not 337, thats like comparing apples and oranges when comparing the Monster and the Great Wall of Flushing

      Bay is 32 those days aren’t over, haha this is why I love Mets fans. I loved when everyone jumped off of Delgado’s bandwagon in 08 and look at the year he had, arguably 1 of his best stretches ever in his career from June-September of 08 had the Mets made the postseason that year, he may just have been the NL MVP after a dreadful first 2 months to the season
• Justin Silberman June 12, 2011 at 11:31 am

  I agree with Kranepool7, lefties may not be as effected, but clearly the left-field wall has played it’s mind games with Bay and Wright. And how about the right centerfield wall at 415 and constructed the way it is. A lot of balls down on the warning track there. At Shea you def. saw Wright take advantage of right centerfield not so much at CITI Field.

  Hey t agee in 09 you had Delgado, Beltran, Wright, Reyes, and pretty much every starter miss some portion of the season on the DL. In Delgado’s case he was lost in May for the year it played a huge role and impact on everyone else in the lineup and there was a lack of protection for guys like beltran and wright when they were healthy.

  It looks however now that the Mets are building and constructing their team around CITI Field, but I think a change is needed with the “Great Wall of Flushing and the fence should be lowered and moved in.
  • Pete June 12, 2011 at 11:49 am

    The wall in Pittsburgh is 21 feet high, so what? Just because a ballpark isn’t a tiny little band-box like what they play in in Yankeeland, or Phillie Phartland, doesn’t mean it’s not baseball. Major league ballplayers should not be concerned with ballpark dimensions, period.
    • Justin Silberman June 12, 2011 at 12:25 pm

      It’s also only 320 down the rightfield line remember. Just like at Camden yards they have the high right field wall but it’s only 318, so it’s a give and take 1 or the other not both distance and height
      • Pete June 12, 2011 at 1:17 pm

        You miss the point.
• Steve June 12, 2011 at 11:52 am

  Nice piece of writing and I whole-heartedly agree with you. I think it was on Friday night when Keith Hernandez taklked about the team and Citi Field and said you dont need homeruns to win ballgames and he talked about his years with the Cardinals and how they were the most dominat team in the division for year. I think he mentioned his homerun leader would only hit 16-18 homeruns, I forget the name. He said their whole team was comprised of speed and defense guys who could hit tons of doubles and triples. He said it actually made the game more exciting. Of course Gary Cohen than cut him off and said, well I happen to think the Mets need their 3-run homers to win games. It was clear they didn’t agree.
  • Pete June 12, 2011 at 11:54 am

    George Hendrick.
    • Steve June 12, 2011 at 12:01 pm

      Thanks, that’s the guy he mentioned
  • Justin Silberman June 12, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    Thank you Steve and I remember hearing that and you sound head on. You can win with speed and timely hitting, yes. But lets not forget when Ike Davis comes back he will be a 30+ homer year guy. He was well on his way this year, plus whether David Wright is back or not is another story, but he showed last year he still has the 30 homer pop in his bat. So the Mets have could have a nice solid combo of speed and power if these guys can ever remain healthy.
• Justin Silberman June 12, 2011 at 1:12 pm

  By the way FYI for everyone commenting on me in favor of bringing in the fences and what not or not bringing in the fences. Just read the title of this article: Mets Power Outage: NO Problem. Keys words: No Problem. Just to clear the debate up a little bit.