Yesterday it was reported that the Mets will not alter the dimensions at Citi Field for the 2010 season.  However, in a report in Friday’s New York Post, the Mets deny that and stated they will wait till after the season to decide.

That’s good news to me because in my opinion, the Mets should change the dimensions to some degree. The Model Zone should go away. I am all for the quirky dimensions and homage to the ballparks of years gone by, but even Ebbets Field had no such bizarre cutout. More importantly, the ballpark wall dimensions should have been constructed to the strength of the Mets hitters.  

The Yankees built the new Yankee Stadium’s wall to match the older ballpark now being torn down.  In doing so, they insured that their left handed power would not suddenly become neutralized by not being able to reach the fences. Although the new Yankee Stadium has shown to give up more homers than ever, it was the right approach to build the park to the team’s strength.

The Mets, by contrast, have done the opposite. They took the power away from their hitters. I do applaud the Mets for wanting to create a pitcher friendly park, one that is fair unlike Philadelphia’s Citizen’s Bank Park. However, a better balance could have been struck.

The face of the franchise is David Wright. Wright, not unlike former Met Mike Piazza, has great power going the other way. But the Model Zone has stripped Wright of this advantage. Wright’s home run numbers are way down although he has hit more at Citi Field than he has on the road. But who knows if the psychology of hitting at Citi Field has altered David’s approach on the road too.

There has been much talk of the Mets developing a team that is faster and plays small ball better and not rely on the homerun. That’s fine but as Earl Weaver, the great former Orioles manager, use to say, there is nothing like a three run homerun.  This is especially true late in the game trailing by a couple of runs. Without the threat of a homerun to get back in the game, a non power team must rely on a series of hits, walks, etc. to get it done.

I don’t think the Mets should radically alter the field dimensions of Citi Field but I do think they should do two things. One: get rid of the indented cut out called the Model Zone and two: lower the left field fence to something more reasonable, say ten feet. The result would still be a pitchers park but a bit fairer to the hitter.

Here’s another thing to consider. Good luck trying to attract a free agent power hitter to Citi Field. If you were in the lucky position of signing with the Yankees or Mets and you were a power hitter, what team would you pick? It’s likely not the Mets because no hitter wants to see his power numbers go down. There is always that next contract to think about.

Note: You know it’s a bad year when – former ace left handed pitcher Jerry Koosman was sentenced to six months in jail for tax evasion. How sad.

Collapse in Brooklyn?

After two seasons of losing a playoff spot on the last day, the Mets won’t face that prospect this year. However, the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets short season class A affiliate might. The Cyclones led the McNamara Division all summer until a couple of days ago when the Staten Island Yankees, of all teams, went ahead of them in the standings. The Yankees have won 13 in a row while the Cylones have been struggling. At the very least Brooklyn should win the wild card.