4
2011
Nothing Pretty at Citi
An article by Former Writers
When the Wilpons decided they were going to tear down Shea Stadium and build Citi Field, it can probably be assumed that they wanted a stadium that would provide their team an advantage. Well, playing at home this season has been nothing short of a disadvantage for the Mets.
So far this season, the Mets are 22-28 at home and 33-27 on the road. For a team that entered August with a fighting chance at catching the Atlanta Braves for the wild card, winning at home has to be a priority, and in two home games this week, it has appeared as such.
If you look deeper into the statistics, one would think that the Mets should have a solid record at Citi Field. Instead, their 22 home wins rank second-to-last in the majors, tied with San Diego and ahead of only the hapless Houston Astros (18 wins at Minute Maid Park).
This season, the Mets are hitting .263 at Citi Field, ranking them 11th in the Major Leagues. Their team OPS is a respectable .735, ranked 14th in the majors. They have a team ERA of 3.70, good for a rank of 15th overall, and their batting average against is .246, putting them 12th in the league.
One of the only categories the Mets don’t rate as high is home runs. In a not-so-surprising statistic, the Mets rank toward the bottom of the league (22nd), hitting only 33 homers at Citi Field. But that’s not why the struggle at home. On the other hand, they have blown seven saves in New York, including last night. For comparison, the first-place Philadelphia Phillies have three total blown saves all season. If the Mets closed just four of those seven blown saves, they would sit at 59-51 and trail the Braves by only 3.5 games.
Also, the Mets have been playing to solid crowds throughout the season, averaging 30, 969 fans through 49 home games, a rank of 13th in the league, so fan support cannot be cited as a reason for poor play.
Looking at all of these factors and from something so simple as watching the games, it seems as though the team just isn’t as focused at home, because blown saves and mental mistakes late in games is what’s costing the Mets wins. And if it’s preparation, from knowing what base to throw to, to knowing when to take an extra base to knowing what type of at-bat a specific situation calls for— if it’s these things the team isn’t doing well—then the responsibility falls on the coaching staff and manager Terry Collins.
Throughout the season, Collins, along with general manager Sandy Alderson, has been heralded for changing the culture of the Mets, for instilling a new attitude among the players and for keeping the team in contention despite a rash of injuries to key players.
But with success also comes failure. Fans and the media can heap praise upon the manager when things go well, but when the team struggles so mightily in its own ballpark, criticism will come and will be justified.
So no matter how successful this season is deemed by those around the Mets, one thing is certain- the way the team has played at home has been a failure.
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER @JASONPAFUNDI
About the Author: Former Writers
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jason,
good article, the thing is the mets got 10 more games to play at home than in the road, with that being said, if’s.. you know how many if’s i can come up regarding this season?? the bottom line is, if’s don’t matter, it is what it is, could we had been better? yes, but we aren’t. and the front office was the first one to realize that we weren’t good enough back in january, thefore no matter what out record said we were in july, krod and beltran were gone, to strip payroll and start building for the future… so, i guess we’ll see what happens in 2014…
So if we have a 500 team this means they have problems in the other ballparks too? Ralph Kiner played for Pittsburgh. He said he walked into Forbes Field the first time and dead center was 456 feet and left field 350 feet. The Polo Grounds had a deep center over 450 feet. If you can’
t play ball don’t put the uniform on-anywhere!
I have written about my dislike for Citifield since day one.Most people disagree with me, which is ok, it’s a free country.I HATE THE DISTANCES TO THE FENCES IN THAT PLACE!!Everytime i attend a game there and i look at the outfield i just shake my head at the enormity of the outfield!I think most people would agree that Shea was a fair park to pitchers and hitters.Why not bring the same distances to the new park.The Yankees did.Plus our best power hitter is a gap hitter (wright).Why would you try and negate your best player with a 415 foot distance to right center.I know most people are going to say the opposition will hit more home runs also.Philly plays in a bandbox and that hasn’t stopped them from having enormous success.I go to 10 games a year and most of them are snorefests.I attended tuesday nite and me and my brother counted about 5 balls (both teams) would have been out at shea.The absurd part is that 4 of them were caught!!
Jason, I think the problem is consistency to be honest.
I don’t buy into any problems with the ballpark and how it plays out because frankly, Jose Reyes doesn’t have the type of year he’s having without the help of Citi Field. Guys like Pelfrey benefit tremendously from Citi Field. I mean Reyes has 4 road triples to 12 at home. Pelf’s ERA since Citi Field has been consistently almost 2 runs lower at home than on the road.
In 2009 the Mets were a horrendous 29-52 on the road and 41-40 at Citi Field.
Last year they were 47-34 at home and 32-49 on the road.
So it’s all about consistency to me. Teams like St. Louis and San Fran have very pitcher friendly parks as well… in San Fran’s case they built the team around the park. Hence the ability to win a game by scoring 3 runs a game.
You don’t hear too much about St. Louis being so pitcher friendly but it is. They just have the right pieces in place to remain a consistent threat.
I’m not going to complain if they ever move the fences in a bit, but you’ll never hear me say the stadium is why the team struggles. The team struggles because the team isn’t built for the stadium…yet
right center is patently unfair. 415 for a gap? Other than that, I really do not care. Yes maybe the wall is too high. Cleveland has high walls. What the league should do is redesign band boxes.
usually players do better at home then on the road, mainly because they DO play 81 games at home, is always changing on the road, with this stadium is onbvious the players are frustrated, no matter how hard you hit it, is HUMONGOUS, i’ve been there about 6 or 7 times, different spots, and everytime i’ve gone i find the park bigger… also, it plays with the players physic.. wright 21 hr’s at home in over 650+ at bats… yikes
Just one more follow up to the distances in Citicavern.I have watched the mets yearbook shows on SNY durung rain delays and have come to the following conclusion.Almost all the great moments in mets history at shea that involved a game winning home run at Shea would have been outs at Citifield.Please bring in the fence from center to right center and get rid of the high wall in left field.
There wouldnt have been a grand slam single thats for sure!!! It would have been caught at the warning track.
Kevin, Thank you.The defense rests.
Maybe we should just get Joshua to parade the Ark around CitiField like he did at Jerico and those walls everyone seems so obsessed with will come tumbling down!
The Walls don’t seem to affect guys like Howard, and Davis…
The problem isn’t the walls it is our expectations of guys like David Wright and Jason Bay to hit HRs.
Lmao, well, wright was a 30 hr hitter and bay a 30+ hr hitter, then, citi field came up, and the hr numbers down!!!!! i posted how wright has had 21 hr’s in more than 650 at bats since 2009.. not good..
Wright hit 30 HRs one year only…the rest of the time he was in the low to mid 20′s Which is about right for a line drive hitter!
Just cause you guys like to see bobbing apples doesn’t mean david wright is the guy to make it bob for you!
He’s not a HR hitter and bringing in the wals isn’t going to make him one!
He also had a hell of a team around him like Beltran and Delgado hitting behind him when he hit those 30 HRs that year!
You want to see 30 HRs from Wright again? Leave the walls alone, go bet an OFer who can hit HRs like Fiedler or Howard to complement Ike Davis and Wright will get those fat pitches to hit over ANY wall!
metsie. he had 26 27 30 33 in 4 consecutive years, avg on 29 hr per.. that’s not bad.. so by your calculation, wright has had 2 seasons if 30 hr’s or more, and 5 total of 25+ hr’s..
And your typical HR hitter averages around 40!
The problem is people blame the Walls for Wright not hitting 40 HRs.
When he has never BEEN a 40 HR guy like Howard or Pujols!
They WANT him to be but he is not that player!
Wright currently has 8 HRs
If he wasn’t hurt in June which is usually where he hits the hottest He would likely have had about 10-15 Hrs by the All Star break. Which means another 10-15 in july August and September to reach his AVERAGE HR totals.
Nothing wrong with the Walls in Citi!
Something wrong with people expecting David Wright to be Ryan Howard!
Wright’s homerun numbers went down in 09
They were right back where in the ball park with 29 last year
In case you don’t know the previous years those weren’t all at Shea stadium either so what’s your point?
29 homeruns last year is not good? No you want to define the guy on low homeruns from one year in his career.
Hey Could We make the Park Look For Metsie…Like Blue Outfield Walls etc…There lacks a bit of atmosphere.
How many of you posters ever go to a game?I defy you to tell me anything about those outfield walls looks normal when you are sitting at the ballpark for a game.One other question for you “experts”.What the hell is a “mo zone” and what is that monstrosity doing in a major league ballpark?