May 29, 2009, New York Mets off day story about Citi Field
Citi’s powerless alley
Mets counting more on hustle than homers in new ballpark
Gary Sheffield is too old to have a rookie nemesis. Twenty-three home games into the season, though, and the 20-year veteran has one — Citi Field.
“It’s one of the toughest. The [Astrodome] was a big stadium, St. Louis [old Busch Stadium] was a big stadium. It compares to parks like that,” Sheffield said.
Hitters, welcome to the new Citi Field.
In its debut season, the Mets’ palace is viewed as a pitchers’ park by its residents and visitors — a stadium that rewards pitching, defense and speed instead of the home run.
Thirty-six homers have been hit in 23 games. It is a small sample size, but it’s well on pace to be much lower than the 173 dongs hit at Shea Stadium in 2008.
Even though it ranks eighth in ESPN’s park factor for homers, ahead of launching pads such as Coors Field and Wrigley Field, the Mets still haven’t figured out their own backyard. They rank 13th in the National League with just 17 homers at home.
“When the ball is hit well, as an outfielder you have to continue to go after it because it might not go out,” Sheffield said. “Chipper [Jones] hit balls that would have been out of any ballpark.
I think he hit two or three balls that probably would have been out of any ballpark but this one.”
The so-called Modell’s Zone could be the biggest reason why balls aren’t flying far. The zone in right-centerfield is a home run grave yard. If a ball is hit there, more often than not it’s either an out or a long single.
“The home run total is going to be down, there’s no question about that. I think that the triples total and the doubles total will go up because there’s a lot of room to cover in the outfield,” said third baseman David Wright. “It’s going to play big. It’s deep, but we have a lot of team speed so we can utilize those gaps.”
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 9:30 PM
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