[IE]

Since Citi Field opened in 2009, the numbers seem to speak for themselves:

Mets HRs at home
Last three years at Shea ll First three years at Citi Field
2006 96 2009 49
2007 83 2010 63
2008 95 2011 50
Total 274 Total 162

To rectify the situation, the Mets underwent an extreme home makeover in the offseason. They've made Citi Field smaller, cutting back on the in-play surface area by 2 percent overall and 5 percent from 300 feet away from home plate and beyond. Most notably, the 16-foot wall in left field has been cut in size by half to a more "Endy Chavez-friendly" eight feet.

The question that has to be asked, though, is whether the change will do any good? After all, couldn't one easily come to the conclusion that this dip in power might simply have been the result of the Mets not being nearly as good a team over the last three seasons as they had been from 2006-08? A look at the Mets' power away from home would certainly lead you in that direction.


Whether or not the park's old dimensions precluded the hitting of home runs is not the real issue. The fact is that Mets hitters believed it was harder to hit home runs at home, and the psychological impact of that belief may well have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Manager Terry Collins has said he thinks his hitters were altering their approach at the plate as a result of frustration.


--ESPN