Joey's Soapbox: My 2015 Obviously Biased World Series Pick

I don't think Pete Rose believes I should be sharing my picks on this platform.

Hi, everyone!  This is Joey Beartran and it's time to share my World Series pick.  I'm picking the Mets.  That was simple, wasn't it?

Well, if you came to this page, that means you probably want to see more than just an obvious pick from a roving reporter/culinary expert.  So I guess I should give you a reason why it would be a wise decision to pick the Mets to win their first World Series in 29 years instead of the team that was the defending world champion when the Mets last lifted the trophy.

The reason is because I've correctly picked 87.5% of this postseason's winners.  I chose the Astros and Cubs to win their respective wild card games.  I was two-for-two with those picks.  Then I batted .750 in the four division series, banging out hits when I picked the Blue Jays, Royals and Mets to advance to the league championship series.  However, I whiffed by picking the Cardinals to advance.  Hey, even Daniel Murphy doesn't hit one out of the park every once in a while.

Once the ALCS and NLCS were both set, I picked the Royals and Mets to face each other in the World Series.  And sure enough, my picks were as automatic as Jeurys Familia has been in the ninth inning (and sometimes the eighth as well).

What?  Picking seven out of eight winners isn't a good enough reason for you to place a bet on the Mets in the Fall Classic?  Did Pete Rose coerce you into thinking that?  Fine.  Here's why I think the Mets will defeat the Royals in the World Series.


World Series


New York Mets vs. Kansas City Royals

The Mets have already taken out the 92-win Dodgers and the 97-win Cubs en route to their fifth National League pennant.  They've gone 7-2 in doing so, with only one of the losses being legitimate.  (The Dodgers didn't earn the Chase Utley game, but Chase Utley sure earned his suspension and his tee time on the golf course.)  Meanwhile, the Royals needed to go the distance against the upstart Astros in the division series, needing a furious comeback in Game Four just to force a fifth and deciding game.  Then they lost two more games to the Blue Jays in the ALCS and could have lost a third, but they had help from a fan in the outfield on a "home run" by Kansas City's Mike Moustakas and also benefited from home plate umpire Jeff Nelson's strike zone, which became wider than Bartolo Colon's waistline when Ben Revere was at the plate in the ninth inning with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.

Kansas City has an excellent bullpen.  But the Royals need to have the lead to use their top relievers.  And their starting pitchers aren't exactly turning heads.

Their four starters (Edinson Volquez, Yordano Ventura, Johnny Cueto and former Met Chris Young) were quite ordinary in the regular season and continued to be so in the postseason.  The not-so-fearsome foursome combined to post a 3.77 ERA and 1.22 WHIP during the regular season - numbers that would have been worse had it not been for Young's contributions (3.06 ERA, 1.09 WHIP).  And as good as Young was during the regular season, it was mostly due to what he did in the first two and a half months.  Through June 16, Young had a stellar 1.98 ERA and 0.92 WHIP.  In his final 20 appearances (10 starts, 10 relief outings), those numbers shot up to 4.06 and 1.24, respectively.

When Chris Young has a lower ERA and WHIP than these guys, it shows they don't have a true ace. (USA TODAY Sports)

Once Volquez, Ventura, Cueto and Young got to the postseason, they fell apart, combining to post a 5.33 ERA and 1.39 WHIP.  They also became more erratic with their control, walking 31 batters in 59 innings.

Of course, the team's hitters bailed them out on numerous occasions, as Kansas City scored five or more runs in six of their seven victories against the Astros and Blue Jays.  But both Houston and Toronto shared so-so starting rotations and bullpens, and it showed in the playoffs.  Neither team had a deep starting rotation and neither club had a Jeurys Familia-type closer.

The Mets have all of that, and then some.

Kansas City went 5-44 in the regular season when they scored fewer than three runs.  That continued in the postseason, as they lost all three games in which they failed to cross the plate three times.  It should be noted that in the 171 games the Mets have played this year, they've allowed three or fewer runs in 90 of those contests.  For all you kids out there, that's 52.6% of the time.  That bodes well for the Mets as they go up against a starting rotation that combined to post an ERA north of 5.00 in their 11 postseason starts.

The Royals also have a starting rotation that's entirely right-handed, with only Franklin Morales and Danny Duffy pitching from the left side out of the pen.  That means more at-bats for Michael Conforto and more comfortable plate appearances for Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson.

The key to defeating the Royals is to get into the late innings with a lead, as Kansas City boasts a three-headed monster in the bullpen with set-up men Ryan Madson (2.13 ERA, 0.96 WHIP), Kelvin Herrera (2.71 ERA, 1.12 WHIP) and closer Wade Davis (0.94 ERA, 0.79 WHIP).  That's where the Mets' starting rotation of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey and Steven Matz will come into play, and they're more than up to the task.

The four pitchers combined to post a 2.92 ERA and 1.08 WHIP during the regular season and continued to shine in the postseason against potent Dodgers and Cubs lineups (2.60 ERA, 1.10 WHIP).  Kansas City finished tenth in the majors in ERA and 13th in WHIP.  And for all of you saber-dudes out there, the Royals' 4.04 FIP was below the 3.96 league average.  When the Royals faced a team that was better than them in all three categories, their won-loss record was 17-20.  They were 78-47 against all other teams.  For the record, the Mets were fourth in the majors in ERA, second in WHIP and sixth in FIP (3.53 - more than half a run better than the Royals).

Last year, the Royals hit well against the Giants in the Fall Classic, scoring 26 runs in the 40 innings not pitched by Madison Bumgarner.  Of course, they crossed the plate just once in the 21 innings tossed by the Bumgarner Buzzsaw and that was enough to give San Francisco the crown.  The Royals are now about to encounter a staff full of Bumgarners when they face the likes of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey in this year's World Series.

Kansas City might be Royal, but it's the Mets who will be celebrating a coronation.

Prediction: Mets in 5.

See you at the World Series!!

Joey's World Tour: Coronation in the Queen City

I'm ready for a clinching in Cincinnati!

Hello, everyone!  This is Joey Beartran and this is a special edition of my world tour.  In the past, I've shared my experiences of various ballparks and the cuisines found in those parks.  But this past weekend when I attended my first game in Cincinnati, I didn't eat a single thing at Great American Ball Park.  You see, something else captured my undivided attention.  And it was sweeter than anything I could have eaten at the ballpark.

When I left New York on Thursday, the Mets' magic number stood at five.  Since I was only going to Friday and Saturday's games, I needed the Mets to win every game between Thursday and Saturday and I also needed the Nationals to lose at least twice.  Considering that Washington was playing the sub-.500 Baltimore Orioles on Thursday and was then beginning a series against the team with the worst record in baseball - you might know them as the Philadelphia Phillies - the odds were not very good that I would see the Mets clinching the division in person.

But as Mets fans, we've been taught that we have to believe.  And I had a belief that I was going to be celebrating in Cincinnati.  At a rest stop near Columbus, Ohio, I found out the Nationals had lost their Thursday afternoon affair.  And soon after we arrived in Cincinnati, the Mets took the first game of their series against the Reds.  The magic number was down to three and my odds for seeing it go down to zero shifted so much in my favor, even Pete Rose would bet on my chances.

Friday night was my first time inside the Reds' ballpark, making it the 18th stadium I've had the pleasure to put my paws in.  By the time the third inning rolled around, both the Mets and Nationals had taken 1-0 leads in their respective games.  (Pitcher Noah Syndergaard's RBI single gave New York its early lead.)  But then things changed when Lucas Duda hit a long three-run homer and Philadelphia's Aaron Altherr completed a 120-yard dash, clearing the bases on an inside-the-park grand slam.  The scores were now 4-0 in favor of the Mets and 4-1, Phillies over Nats.  I was as happy as the statues of Pete Rose and George Foster were in the Reds' Hall of Fame and Museum, but I knew there was still plenty of baseball yet to be played.

(Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

The fifth inning in Washington caused me to throw my paws up in the air and wave them around as if there were no repercussions, as Aaron Altherr hit an outside-the-park home run and was followed two batters later by Darin Ruf's solo shot.  Washington did pull back to within four runs in the sixth inning, but by then I wasn't constantly looking at the out of town scoreboard, mainly because I was too busy cheering for Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson.  Both lefty-swinging sluggers launched matching three-run blasts to extend the Mets' lead to a dozen runs.  The Mets eventually allowed five meaningless runs in the eighth and ninth frames, while the Phillies tacked on two insurance runs against the Nationals in the late innings.

The Mets had defeated the Reds, 12-5, and the Nationals had fallen to the Phillies, 8-2.  The magic number was down to one and after thinking I wouldn't get a chance to see it, I was poised to witness the potential division clinching game on Saturday.

It was difficult hibernating on Friday.  I was tossing and turning throughout the night.  Once Saturday morning came around, I needed to do something to get the butterflies out of my tummy, so I paid a visit to the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, which I soon realized had a lot more to offer than just Rose and Foster statues.

Upon entering the two-story museum, I saw an exhibit on the original 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings - baseball's first professional team.  The following room contained the Kings of the Queen City exhibit and a 100-seat theater.  I wasn't really in a movie-watching mood, mainly because they didn't have any popcorn, but I was intrigued by the other exhibit in the room.

Along with Pete Rose memorabilia and old uniforms, the wall around the room served as a timeline in Reds history, and it wasn't just all the positive moments in Cincinnati's long and proud history.  Just take a look at these photos from the 1973 and 1999 wall entries and you'll see what I mean.

From there, I took the stairs to the upper level.  Even the area near the staircase had something to behold, as there were 4,256 baseballs - one for each of Pete Rose's base hits accumulated over his illustrious 24-year playing career - going up the face of the wall.

Upon entering the second floor, I was greeted by a wing dedicated to Hall of Famer Tony Perez, which includes the uniforms he wore for every team he played for - not just the Reds.  The next room is devoted to all the men and women who have been part of the team's front office.  Yes, that means there is a mention of Marge Schott and her dog, Schottzie.

The following room has a wall that has photos of every Reds player who has participated in an All-Star Game.  The room also has a replica locker room, where guests can put on a Reds uniform, hold a bat or wear a Reds batting helmet.

From there, I went down a hall that had memorabilia from those All-Stars and to the left of that hall is a room where I could throw baseballs at a catcher.  I didn't want to undergo emergency Tommy John surgery, so I moved on to an area that housed a dugout and a statue of Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson.

My sister, Iggy, and I wanted to pick Sparky's brain, but he wasn't talking.  It's like he was a statue.

One sweet feature on the second floor was the Ultimate Reds Room, which is a fancy term for a "man cave".  As a bear, I know a thing or two about caves.  But this "man cave" - which was stacked with Reds photos, posters, replica ballpark seats and a TV showing Reds highlights - was missing the most important thing.  It didn't have a fridge.  So naturally, I didn't pose for photos there and instead moved on to the next room, which featured great teams in Reds history.

What I liked about this room was that it didn't just include championship teams.  Oh, there were a number of World Series trophies present, but there were also mentions of Reds teams that didn't even qualify for the postseason, including the 1999 team that lost to the Mets in Game No. 163.  And of course, the centerpiece of the room was the Big Red Machine.  And by Big Red Machine, I mean statues of the eight position players on the teams that won five division titles, three pennants and two World Series championships in a seven-year span from 1970 to 1976.  (Cincinnati also won a division crown in 1979, but Pete Rose and Tony Perez had already parted ways with the team.)

Remember the photo of Rose and Foster I shared above?  That was part of a much larger photo, which you can see below.

(Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

One thing I noticed about the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum compared to what the Mets have at Citi Field (besides the obvious difference in size) was that the statues could be touched by anyone.  There were no ropes keeping paws and hands away from the works of art, a la the Mr. Met that's cordoned off from guests in the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum.  Out of respect, I didn't touch the statues and instead moved on to the final room, which houses the plaques of all the players in Reds Hall of Fame.

I noticed a plaque for Pedro Borbon, who Mets fans know as the Reds player who bit off part of Buzz Capra's cap during the Pete Rose-Bud Harrelson fist-filled fracas in the 1973 National League Championship Series.  I also smiled at Chris Sabo's plaque, which featured the bespectacled third baseman of the 1990 World Championship team in his signature goggles.  There also may have been a plaque for Tom Seaver, but I'd rather not talk about that one.  Besides, wouldn't you rather hear about the game between the Reds and Mets on Saturday, which I was about to be late for because I spent so much time in the museum?

Why did you have to go to Cincinnati, Tom?  You don't even look right in that uniform.

I made it to my seat just in time to see the Mets come to bat in the top of the first inning.  Had I spent more time looking at statues or staring at Pete Rose's balls (Iggy, why are you giggling?), I would have missed Lucas Duda hitting his third home run of the series.  This one was a grand slam - the first of Duda's career - and it gave Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey a four-run lead before he threw his first pitch of the game.  A solo shot by Granderson an inning later gave the Mets a 5-0 advantage.

Harvey was a little shaky in the second inning, allowing hits to four of the first five batters to face him in the inning.  But he limited the damage to two runs, and in the next half-inning, the Mets got those runs right back on a two-run double by Michael Cuddyer, who may or may not be Scott Atchison's lost twin brother.

David Wright isn't sure if that's BFF Michael Cuddyer or former teammate Scott Atchison.  (Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

As the innings progressed and Matt Harvey continued to mow down Reds hitters while keeping them off the scoreboard, I proceeded to count down the outs.

Fifteen outs to go.  Twelve outs to go.  Nine outs to go.

Harvey surprised all the fans sitting with me behind the Mets dugout when he came out to pitch the seventh inning.  It was innings limits, schminnings limits for Harvey on this overcast day.  And as light sprinkles continued to fall from the southern Ohio sky, I started to feel a new appreciation for Harvey.  Or maybe it was just hunger pangs because I hadn't eaten at either of the two games I attended.  It didn't help that I had just seen a subliminal Skyline Chili ad disguised as a "guess which plate of spaghetti and chili the baseball is hidden under" game on the scoreboard.

(Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

Harvey couldn't complete the seventh inning, but he did receive a rousing ovation from the thousands of Mets fans in attendance as he walked off the mound.  Once Addison Reed recorded the final out of the inning, the Mets were just six outs away from a division title.  And when Tyler Clippard pitched a 1-2-3-4-5 inning in the eighth, the Mets were three outs away from the promised land.

I wanted so badly for Mets batters to swing at the first pitch they saw in the top of the ninth, just to get Jeurys Familia on the mound for the bottom of the ninth.  Some batters did swing at the first pitch, but they ended up getting on base.  And when David Wright sent a Burke Badenhop pitch in the direction of the Ohio River - it splashed down in the seats just left of straightaway center field - it provided a fitting capper to a wonderful game and prompted fans to show off their best congratulatory signs for the longest tenured Mets player.

It was indeed worth the wait for David Wright and the Mets.  (Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

Even though the Mets now had an eight-run lead, manager Terry Collins called upon Familia to close out the race for the NL East title.  Familia needed just six pitches - all strikes - to retire the first two batters in the ninth.  Fans behind the Mets dugout - myself included - had already been standing since the start of the inning.  A nine-year period of pent-up frustration was one out away from being over.  The anticipation was, pardon the pun, unbearable.

Then Familia allowed a single to Joey Votto, followed by a Brandon Phillips infield single.  The next batter would be Jay Bruce - the same Jay Bruce who was almost traded to the Mets before the team decided they could swing a deal with Detroit for the services of Yoenis Cespedes.

The first pitch to Bruce was fouled off, as was the second pitch.  The Mets were one strike away from winning the National League East.  As Familia looked for the sign from catcher Travis d'Arnaud, camera phones were up the air hoping to capture the moment when the team's biggest out in nearly a decade was recorded.  Familia came to the set position and fired the ball to the plate.  And four-tenths of a second later, there was joy in Metsville - mighty Brucey had struck out.

 

David Wright, Jon Niese and Daniel Murphy - the three longest tenured Mets - celebrate the victory.  (Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

I had been to various ballparks over the past five years.  But all of those stadium visits involved me watching Mets teams that would go on to finish with losing records.  That's seventeen parks and nearly two dozen nondescript ballgames featuring mediocre-at-best Mets teams.

But this stop of my world tour was so much different than all of my previous stops.  My trip to the Queen City had resulted in the coronation of the Mets as division champions.

My world tour is not yet over, as I still have a dozen more ballparks and cities to visit.  Maybe I'll even sample some of the food in those not-yet-visited stadiums.  But I don't think I'll ever have a memory of a ballpark greater than the one I had in Cincinnati.  From the hospitality (not a single Reds fan said anything negative to me or my fellow Mets fans) to the incredible Hall of Fame and Museum to the games themselves, my trip to southern Ohio produced the happiest recap I could have ever asked for.

This is the look of a fan of a division champion.

For more of Joey's World Tour, please click on the links below, where you will be entertained by Joey's wit, photos and love of ballpark cuisine:

World Tour Stop #1: Baltimore
World Tour Stop #2: Washington, DC
World Tour Stop #3: Pittsburgh
World Tour Stop #4: Texas
World Tour Stop #5: Los Angeles
World Tour Stop #6: San Diego
World Tour Stop #7: Toronto
World Tour Stop #8: Chicago
World Tour Stop #9: Milwaukee
World Tour Stop #10: Seattle
World Tour Stop #11: Cleveland
World Tour Stop #12: Brooklyn (Ebbets Field site) and Manhattan (Polo Grounds site)
World Tour Stop #13: Baltimore (again) and Pittsburgh (part deux)
 

The Mets Are The Only Franchise Without A Player Having A 3-HR Game At Home

The Mets are entering their seventh season at Citi Field in 2015.  Prior to that, they called Shea Stadium home for 45 seasons.  And that came on the heels of a two-year residency at the Polo Grounds in 1962 and 1963.  That's over half a century of home games spread out over three stadiums.

Almost a thousand players have played for the Mets in that time, with just under 400 of them hitting at least one home run in a Mets uniform.  Of those 391 players who hit it "outta here", only Jim Hickman, Dave Kingman, Claudell Washington, Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, Edgardo Alfonzo, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Ike Davis were able to hit three home runs in the same game.  Amazingly, all nine of them achieved their tater trifecta on the road.

That's right, Mets fans.  There have been over 4,000 home games in Mets history and the team still has more no-hitters than players who have hit three homers in the same game in front of the home crowd.  It's enough to make Gary Cohen say something like this every time a Mets player comes close.

"You know, Keith, no Met has ever hit three home runs in a game at home."

So now that we know that the Mets have only had nine players who have produced prodigious displays of power - all on the road - the question that has to be on everyone's minds is this.  Is there any other team in baseball that has never seen one of its own blast three homers in a single game at home?  My research yielded an interesting answer.

Below is a list of the last players to pull off home run hat tricks for each major league team while wearing their home whites.

Team	Player	Date/Opponent
Arizona Diamondbacks	Jason Kubel	7/21/12 vs. HOU
Atlanta Braves	Mark Teixeira	6/22/08 vs. SEA
Baltimore Orioles	Chris Davis	8/24/12 vs. TOR
Boston Red Sox	Kevin Millar	7/23/04 vs. NYY
Chicago Cubs	Dioner Navarro	5/29/13 vs. CWS
Chicago White Sox	Paul Konerko	7/7/09 vs. CLE
Cincinnati Reds	Joey Votto	5/13/12 vs. WAS
Cleveland Indians	Jim Thome	7/6/01 vs. STL
Colorado Rockies	Carlos Gonzalez	5/30/12 vs. HOU
Detroit Tigers	Miguel Cabrera	5/28/10 vs. OAK
Florida/Miami Marlins	Cody Ross	9/11/06 vs. NYM (*)
Houston Astros	Morgan Ensberg	5/15/05 vs. SF
Kansas City Royals	Danny Tartabull	7/6/91 vs. OAK (*)
Los Angeles Angels	Torii Hunter	6/13/09 vs. SD
Los Angeles Dodgers	Juan Uribe	9/9/13 vs. ARZ
Milwaukee Brewers	Prince Fielder	9/27/11 vs. PIT
New York Yankees	Curtis Granderson	4/19/12 vs. MIN
Oakland Athletics	Miguel Tejada	6/11/99 vs. LAD
Philadelphia Phillies	Jayson Werth	5/16/08 vs. TOR
Pittsburgh Pirates	Andrew McCutchen	8/1/09 vs. WAS
San Diego Padres	Phil Nevin	10/6/01 vs. COL (*)
San Francisco Giants	Barry Bonds	8/2/94 vs. CIN
Seattle Mariners	Edgar Martinez	5/18/99 vs. MIN
St. Louis Cardinals	Albert Pujols	9/3/06 vs. PIT
Tampa Bay Rays	Evan Longoria	10/3/12 vs. BAL
Texas Rangers	Adrian Beltre	8/22/12 vs. BAL
Toronto Blue Jays	John Buck	4/29/10 vs. OAK
Washington Nationals	Adam Dunn	7/7/10 vs. SD

Editor's note:  Barry Bonds was the last member of the San Francisco Giants to hit three home runs in a regular season home game, but the Giants' Pablo Sandoval hit three home runs in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, which was played in San Francisco.

(*) The star indicates that this was the only time in team history that a player produced a three-homer game in his home ballpark.


Did you notice any teams missing in the chart above?  There were two - the Mets (obviously) and the Minnesota Twins.  But prior to 1961, the Minnesota Twins were playing ball as the Washington Senators.  And on August 31, 1956, Jim Lemon became the first and only member of the original Washington Senators to hit three home runs in a home game when he clobbered his triumvirate of taters at Griffith Stadium against the New York Yankees.

With the Senators/Twins franchise having a member in the "three homers at home" club, that leaves the Mets as the only team in the majors without a player who has hit three round-trippers in a single game in his home ballpark.

It's no wonder Gary Cohen continues to mention that fact ad nauseum in the same way he (and every other Mets broadcaster) used to discuss no-hitters before the events of June 1, 2012.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

In honor of the topic at hand, here are some other bits of "three-homer at home" minutiae for you.

• Two players have hit three homers in a home game on four separate occasions.  Both accomplished their feats for the Chicago Cubs.  Ernie Banks had his three-homer games at Wrigley Field in 1955, 1957, 1962 and 1963, while Sammy Sosa slammed his way to history at the Friendly Confines in 1996, 1998 and twice in 2001.

• Speaking of the Cubs, the Bleacher Bums at Wrigley Field have been treated to the most three-homer performances by one of their own.  Cubs players have produced three homers in a game 24 times at the Friendly Confines.  No other team has more than 17 such games.  (The Cincinnati Reds have that amount in their various home ballparks.)  Looks like the wind was blowing out at just the right time for the North Siders during those two dozen affairs.

• The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers are the only teams to have three players accomplish the "three-homer at home" feat in the same season.  In 1950, fans at Ebbets Field saw Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and Tommy Brown go deep three times in one game.  Similarly, Miller Park season-ticket holders in 2011 witnessed Corey Hart, Casey McGehee and Prince Fielder circle the bases thrice in the same game.

• Although no Mets player has ever hit three homers in a game at home, four opposing players had three-homer games against the Mets in New York.  St. Louis' Stan Musial was the first to do so, smacking three bombs at the Polo Grounds on July 8, 1962.  Dick Allen of the Philadelphia Phillies became the first player to hit three home runs in a game at Shea Stadium on September 29, 1968.  A decade later, Cincinnati's Pete Rose became the most unlikely candidate to have a three-homer game at Shea when he circled the bases three times on April 29, 1978.  It was the only time Rose hit three home runs in a single game in his 24-year career.  Finally, former Met Dave Kingman launched three long balls at Shea Stadium as a member of the Chicago Cubs on July 28, 1979.

• No Mets player has ever hit three homers in a home game.  But seven players have hit three blasts in the same game against the Mets in their home ballparks, with one of the seven doing it twice.  Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants victimized the Mets at Candlestick Park in 1963 and 1966.  The next three times a player hit a trio of home runs in a home game against the Mets, those players were wearing Cubs uniforms.  Adolfo Phillips (1967), Billy Williams (1968) and Tuffy Rhodes (1994) gave a total of nine souvenirs to the Bleacher Bums at Wrigley Field, courtesy of various Mets pitchers.  The other three players to hit three homers in a home game against the Mets were Detroit's Bobby Higginson (1997 at Tiger Stadium), Arizona's Luis Gonzalez (2004 at Bank One Ballpark) and Florida's Cody Ross (2006 at Dolphins Stadium).  Ross's game remains the only time in Marlins history in which one of their own hit three homers in a game at home.

Mets fans have always hated Cody Ross.  After reading this piece, they'll hate him even more.

Since the Mets came into existence in 1962, there have been 175 instances in which a player hit three home runs in the same regular season game at his home ballpark.  In all 175 instances, the player who circled the bases was wearing a uniform that did not say "Mets" on it.

And now, for the second time in Citi Field's short history, the dimensions of the ballpark have been adjusted to supposedly make it easier for the Mets to hit home runs there.  But will those cosmetic changes help produce the first three-homer game by a Mets player in his home whites?  Or will the closer fences allow Mets fans to witness a fifth player in his road grays following in the footsteps of Stan Musial, Dick Allen, Pete Rose and Dave Kingman by taking a trio of trots around the bases in the Mets' home park?

In the 1970s, Schoolhouse Rock once taught us that "Three Is A Magic Number".  It remains to be seen if Citi Field will ever by rocked by a Mets player who believes in the power of three.