Mets need to lower Citi Field's fences

It's good news that the Mets are close to signing Jason Bay. Now the team needs to lower CitiField's outfield fences. In Shea Stadium, the entire outfield fence measured only eight feet height; whereas, at Citi Field, a USA Today article reported that "the outfield walls change height seven times;" at their highest point, they're 16 feet height.

With regard to Citi Field's dimensions, according to a New York Times article:

The left-field foul pole stands a relatively enticing 335 feet from home plate, but the distance to left-center jumps to 379 with a 15-foot wall. A 16-foot wall guards a sliver of straightaway center, which is 408 feet away, and right-center field measures 383 feet before angling in to 330 down the right-field line. The deepest part of the park, a nook in right-center, is 414 feet from home.

In comparison, the Times article reported that Shea Stadium, the Mets former home, "had a symmetrical outfield, where center field was 410 feet from home plate, the gaps were 378 feet and the left- and right-field lines measured 338."

For right-handed batters like Wright and Bay, the fact that the height of the left-center fence is 15 feet is not good news. Hopefully, before the 2010 season begins,  the Mets will have enough sense to lower that fence's height.

Thoughts after last night's loss

Last night's Mets game revealed a significant flaw. The distance to the center field fence is too far. Beltran would have had a homer last night if the distance from home to center matched that of Shea. Further, I couldn't believe how far in the outfielders were from their respective fences (because the fences are so far out). Too far in, as Church's misplay revealed.

With regard to the Mets' starters, Pelfrey continues to be unimpressive. In his two innings he showed little movement on his pitches, plus he didn't mix up his pitches. He's lucky he didn't surrender more runs. Isn't anyone teaching him how to pitch?

Almost as bad was Pedro Feliciano, who balked home the winning run. Manuel should have left Brian Stokes in the game. On the plus side, Green, Putz, and Rodriguez pitched three innings of runless, hitless ball. Rodriguez, in particular, looks like a winner.

Finally, what was Wilpon thinking when he had a stadium built that can seat only 42,000 fans, 15,000 fewer than Shea could seat?

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Good news: Billy Wagner threw 23 pitches off a mound yesterday, the first time he did that since last season.

Believe it or not: The Washington Nationals sent Lastings Milledge down to their Triple-A team. In 24 at bats he was hitting .167 with 10 strikeouts.

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Interesting article about Fernando Martinez

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