Schwei: There's No Place Like Road For Mets
By John Schweibacher
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The road has been much kinder than home for the New York Mets in 2011.
The Mets come into the week with 42 wins as the visiting team this season, 11 more than the 31 they currently have at Citi Field.
This is only the 8th time in club history that the Mets will finish a season with more road wins than home wins and it will also be the biggest margin of road victories over home victories ever for the Mets.
Season Mets Road Wins Mets Home Wins
· 2011 42 31
· 1968 41 32
· 1994 32 23
· 1979 35 28
· 2007 47 41
· 1993 31 28
· 1966 34 32
· 1972 42 41
Here is how some the Mets regulars have fared at home vs. on the road in 2011, through the games of September 18th:
Player Home Road
· Reyes .332 2 21 .331 3 18
· Duda .317 2 21 .269 8 28
· Murphy .313 2 17 .325 4 32
· Thole .285 1 14 .244 2 22
· Bay .282 6 29 .214 6 28
· Turner .277 3 28 .254 1 21
· Tejada .272 0 13 .287 0 19
· Pagan .250 4 22 .272 3 33
· Wright .242 5 23 .281 9 34
Pitcher Home Road
· Gee 6-3 3.18 6-3 5.74
· Niese 5-6 3.54 6-5 5.33
· Pelfrey 3-4 3.57 4-8 5.36
· Dickey 2-9 3.66 6-4 2.99
· Capuano 4-5 3.78 7-7 5.29
The Mets have been outscored 343-304 at Citi Field but have outscored their opponents 371-352 on the road.
The Mets went 7 and 6 in the first games of their 13 road trips in 2011 but are just 1 and 11 (with one remaining) in homestand openers this season.
With just nine games remaining, the Mets' hopes of finishing the season at .500 are all but over.
The last time the Mets posted a .500 record or better was in 2008. Only four teams in the majors currently have longer droughts without posting a .500 or better record:
· Pittsburgh 1992
· Baltimore 1997
· Kansas City 2003
· Washington 2005
· Mets 2008
· Houston 2008
· Cleveland 2008
The Mets went 1 and 8 on their last homestand, matching their third-worst percentage on homestand of at least nine games:
· September 18-23, 1979 0-9 .000
· Aug. 23-Sept. 2, 2004 1-10 .091
· September 8-15, 2011 1-8 .111
· August 20-29, 1979 1-8 .111
David Wright and Jose Reyes lead the Mets in errors with 18 but neither is really close to climbing this dubious list; most errors in a season by a Mets fielder:
· Rod Kanehl 32 1962
· Bud Harrelson 32 1967
· Charlie Smith 31 1964
· Mike Phillips 31 1975
· Howard Johnson 31 1991
· Ron Gardenhire 29 1982
· Hubie Brooks 29 1984
· Howard Johnson 28 1990
· Al Moran 27 1963
· Roy McMillan 27 1965
· Rey Ordonez 27 1996
The Mets finish off their road schedule for 2011 with a three-game series against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium before returning for their final homestand of the season, which begins with three games against the N.L. East champion Phillies.
This week's trip to St. Louis will be the Mets' first since April of last season when they lost two of three to the Cardinals, with the lone win coming in 20 innings, 2-1.
The Mets took two of three from the Cardinals back in late July when the two clubs played at Citi Field.
The only remaining players on each of these two teams who appeared in the 2006 NLCS are Jose Reyes and David Wright for the Mets and Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Chris Carpenter and the injured Adam Wainwright for the Cardinals.
Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:
Runs: Turner Field Fireworks. The Mets 12 runs in their win against the Braves this past Friday were their most ever in Atlanta since the Braves left Fulton-County Stadium after the 1996 season.
Hits: A Walk Is Just As Good. Mets hitters lead N.L. in bases on balls with 534.
Errors: Left On Base. Mets lead majors with 1,191 runners stranded.
