Here and There

[Guest Edgy DC]

The good news is coming home.

The bad news is perhaps maybe desperately needing to.

In 2010

TEAM	W	L	PCT	GB
Mets at Home	11	5	.688	---
Mets on the Road	4	8	.333	5.0

In CitiField's Short History

TEAM	W	L	PCT	GB
Mets at Home	52	45	.536	---
Mets on the Road	33	60	.355	17.0

[Centerfield]

I like big parks...

[Guest Edgy DC]

Problem is --- and it's easy to overstate this, so I need to be careful --- the team's game may not be translating on the road.

In 2008, they were 48-33 at home and 41-40 on the road, which seems close to the sort of split you'd expect. I wonder if that gap was wider from the time Jerry took over. Maybe it's as much a Jerry-era thing as a Citi-era thing. Gangstas protect they crib.

[bmfc1]

You've raised an interesting point Edgy. The Mets are teaching their pitchers to pitch to contact in order to take advantage of the big ballpark. Thus far, it's working at home but on the road, the fly balls that are "long outs" at home become home runs in "band boxes" like Philadelphia and Cincinnati.

[TransMonk]

If this team could find a way to play .500 on the road, everything would be alright.

Not being able to win any road series puts a big dent in their cred...even with the 9-1 homestand.

[Guest attgig]

we just need 8 rod barajas' to play in the small parks.
If you follow the theory, mets records in other pitcher parks should be better.

[seawolf17]

bmfc1 wrote: You've raised an interesting point Edgy. The Mets are teaching their pitchers to pitch to contact in order to take advantage of the big ballpark. Thus far, it's working at home but on the road, the fly balls that are "long outs" at home become home runs in "band boxes" like Philadelphia and Cincinnati.

Mike Francesa actually raised that point with Jerry the other day on the phone. He asked if the guys had to change their focus, especially in parks like Philly and Cincinnati. Whereas at home they could "pitch to contact," on the road, they had to try to get pitches by guys and/or get ground balls.

There's probably some truth to it. Is it on Jerry? Dan? I don't know. Look at a guy like Pelfrey, who's significantly worse on the road. Maybe that's what's in his head? I'd think that's Dan Warthen's job, to help mitigate that, like it's Jerry's job to get the right guys in the game at the right time.

[Ceetar]

I said before the season that if their pitching philosophy is pitching to contact, it's not going to work. Specifically if it's "Don't walk guys, let them make out." is not a strategy. I'm hoping taht's just the sound bytes we hear, and not the whole story, but Warthen's taken a ton of hits in my opinion.

I wonder if part of it is just the intimidation factor of Citi Field that (hopefully) the Mets have grown comfortable with.

[Benjamin Grimm]

If the Mets can continue to win 9 out of every 10 at home, and 1 out of every 3 on the road, they'll end up with about 99 wins.

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: If the Mets can continue to win 9 out of every 10 at home, and 1 out of every 3 on the road, they'll end up with about 99 wins.

That'll get them home field too, but if they want to win the WS, they better make sure the All-Star game goes right..