Jun 18, 2013

Be Positive People

The last day of a season to me feels like a funeral. You have to live without something that you have dedicated your life to. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, no Mets baseball for 7 months. Each and everyday over the past 7 months, I would have done anything to sit down on the couch and listen to Gary, Keith and Ron. Well the day has come, after a long winter (especially for this Giants and Knicks fan) the Mets are back. For the next 6 and if we’re lucky 7 months, we get a game to watch almost every single day to entertain us. This should be a great day but a lot of people are already starting with the doom and gloom.

I understand, our 2-4 starters did absolutely nothing in spring, our bullpen is still a big question mark and we are missing our 2 most important players. Yes, I know all of that, but lets be positive. We still have arguably the best pitcher in the game in Johan Santana. We have David Wright, Jason Bay, Jeff Francoeur and Frankie Rodriguez. That is a core that most teams in MLB would kill for. Not too mention we only have to wait 5 small days ’til Jose Reyes, the most exciting player in baseball is back.

Think about 2 years ago. Did you pick the Rays to make the World Series? No, you didn’t. This is sports, anything can happen and the Mets have the talent that could come together to win. We have heard even from Mike Francesa that the camaraderie is the best its been in along time. If these guys like each other  that can go along way and can grow momentum if we can get off to a good start. We had an weird but winning opening day in 2006 and that momentum carried on throughout the season. Think about the Pirates would you like to be fighting for your first winning season since 1991? I don’t think so. The Mets spend, although not always wisely, how do you know that we don’t hang in and pick up a healthy Ben Sheets at the trade deadline? We are in a much better situation then most clubs, and trust me if the Wilpon’s can’t sell tickets they will do something to get our fannies in seats.

I don’t agree with Jerry Manuel very often but he did offer up some very good advise on the Mike Francesa program the other day. He said everyone needs to be positive and I cannot agree more with him. When fans hit the Citi tomorrow, they need to realise that we are 0 and 0, we have a clean slate. We need to cheer each and every player, let them know that we are behind every single person in orange and blue. I think it looks flat out silly and makes Met fans look like spoiled babies when they boo players especially early in the season. Met fans like to pride themselves as the opposite of Yankee fans, not front runners, stay with their team no matter what, not spoiled babies. But the negative talk and booing at game is doing just that. Support your team and guess what it just may help them. Being at home is supposed to be an advantage, but I bet the Mets love the road because they can escape a lot of the harassment they get. Lets make Citi a great place to be, it should be loud and scary for the other team. Yell profanities at the Marlins tomorrow, not the Mets. All of us need Citi to be our home, we want it to be a great place to watch a game and enjoy ourselves, the Mets want it to be a place where they can dominate and other teams hate coming to. But our attitude, the fans that is can heavily effect what type of place Citi Field is.

If you are reading this before you leave your place to hit Citi today please remember we need to get behind this team and show them how much we want to do well and be positive. Remember folks, it is opening day anything is possible and as always YA GOTTA BELIEVE!!!!!! This could just be THE YEAR!!!!

Mets move Home Run Apple to front of ballpark

This is absolutely awesome. I think it made my Sunday morning when I found this picture over at HotFootBlog as I had no idea they even planned to do this.

I really hated that they stuck the Apple so far off the beaten path when it moved over to Citi Field. The idea of walking by it when on my way into the new digs is great. It will be a reminder of Shea and the times had there each time I walk by.

Very good move by the Mets, I love the recognition of the issue and finding a cool solution! Kudos!

Pictures of the changes at Citi Field

Follow the link to a gallery of pictures taken by “johnql” over at photobucket and they show a bunch of pictures he took at a recent even at Citi Field. Why I don’t get invited to these things I have no idea. It’d be really neat to just walk around the empty stadium taking pictures.

Anyway they show some of the cosmetic changes made to the stadium, you know to make people aware that the Mets play there and not as the Wilpons would prefer the Dodgers.

Like I said they are basically just cosmetic. It’s hard to tell really what they are doing to the bullpen area, but I think that’s the biggest changed overall. The signs and banners are really cool and they seem to actually been done in a classy way. I wont really know until I am walking around if they have the desired effect though. It’s such a simple thing to do, it boggles the mind why they didn’t do this before opening day.

I found these pictures via MetsBlog so credit to them.

Mets Fans Guide to Citi Field

Caryn over at metsgrrl.com has put together an awesome guide for the Mets fan going to games at Citi Field. The guide has a lot of insider information that even if you only plan to go to one game this year, you need to read this. Actually now that I think about it, if your only going to one game this year – you definitely need to read this to make sure you do it right.

She covers it all: what tickets to buy, stadium tours, getting autographs, the old home plate location, best food spots, best photo ops, and tons of other stuff. Are you a Mets fan that’s always wanted to experience taking the 7 Train into the stadium? She’s got that covered and even has a video of what it’s like, awesome! We might do our own guide some day, but not sure if it’s really necessary with this source available!

I know I learned a lot when I read it so I wanted to pass it on to you guys. Hope you enjoy it!

MetsGrrl.com: The MetsGrrl.com Guide to Citi Field

The Myth about Citi Field

There has been a lot of talk since it opened about how Citi Field is where power hitters go to die. I too was of this opinion after watching all the Mets home games. But after reading a few articles and looking at some of the stats I now think otherwise.

Most people site David Wrights lack of home runs as evidence that the park is way too big.  The truth is David had a horrible season and saw his strikeout totals explode.  Sad truth is even if he were playing in Yankees stadium his home run totals would have been down.

The truth remains that the Mets actually hit MORE home runs at Citi Field then they did while away.  Yes that’s right I said they hit MORE at home (47 at home vs 46 away).  Shocking isn’t it?  It was for me.  Then when you also consider that the Mets pitching staff allowed more home runs then was the National League average you start to scratch your head.

The problem isn’t if they should lower the walls, move up home plate, or even bring the fences in, the problem is the roster.  If you watched all the games like I did last year you wont recall the opposition having any problem with the long ball.  The solution is get our power hitters healthy and get some better pitching.  It’s really that simple.  The Mets home run numbers were horrible last year because the team stunk.  No other way to put it.

I think that if we have Beltran healthy for a season (ok well already hoping for 3/4 of a season now) and with the addition of Bay and Francoeur we will see our power numbers go up, and no it’s not because they lowered the CF wall.  At the same time I am willing to guess that our pitching staff will continue to give up more HR’s then the NL average, and that’s because, well, our staff is really weak.

It’s time to stop blaming other factors and take a look at the team.  Weak lineups don’t hit home runs, and weak pitching staffs give them up.  It is really that simple.