With the final road trip in the books (as it were), the Mets 2013 road record finishes at 41-40. This is significantly better than their home record, which stands at 32-45 with 4 games to play.

One obvious reason for this disparity would be park factor. While the Mets decided to shrink the dimensions of Citi Field prior to the 2012 season, it’s still not a band box. In fact, you can fit almost the entire field at Citizen’s Bank Park inside the fences of Citi Field:

The Mets and Verizon are holding a kid’s clinic on August 4 at Citi Field. Here are the details:

Help your fellow man!

The Mets will be holding a food drive at Citi Field.  If the kindness of your heart isn’t enough motivation to give, you might even walk away with Mets tickets or discounts on merchandise.

Here are the details:

WHAT:           The New York Mets host a food drive in partnership with City Harvest 

WHO:              Hundreds of Mets fans

City Harvest staff and volunteers

Mr. Met 

WHERE:         Hodges VIP entrance, Citi Field

WHEN:           Wednesday, November 14

                        9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Mr. Met photo op at 12:00 p.m.

NOTE:            Fans donating 10 items or more of nonperishable nutritious food will receive a voucher redeemable for one pair of tickets to a select

Mets game in April 2013.  Donors will also receive 15% off select merchandise at the Mets Team Store at Citi Field.  Season Ticket Holders who donate food can show their ID card to get 20% off select items.  The discount will only be honored Wednesday,
November 14.

Among the items most needed are: canned fruit and vegetables, plastic jars of peanut butter, packages of hot or cold cereal, and packages of macaroni and cheese.  Items that will not be accepted are: unlabeled, expired, or dented cans; any open packaging; products that need to be refrigerated; or homemade products.

Fans dropping off food may park in Lot G on 126th Street between the Right Field Gate and Roosevelt Avenue.

The 2012 Mets have gotten out of the gate with 7 wins in their first 10 games.  This is the fourth best start in their history –  the 1972, 1985, and 2006  teams went 8-2 in their first 10 games.  They continue on with game two of their series in Atlanta tonight.

Blog reaction:

• Rich Coutinho says the Mets’ fast start is due to their surprisingly effective starting rotation.
• Real Dirty thinks the Mets’ plan to show a video tribute to Jose Reyes when the Marlins are in town next week goes a little too far.
• Adam Rubin has a photo of the scoreboard at Citi…is that..are those…sabermetrics?
• Bleacher Report thinks 5 Mets will continue their early season success all year.
• Metstradamus doesn’t believe that was really Jason Bay out there last night, but rather a Tupacesque hologram of 2009 Jason Bay.
• Daily Stache wonders if it’s cruel to dress up a dog in a Mets jersey and force him to panhandle outside Citi Field.

The DOG days aren’t here yet, but Mets Today can HANDLE any news and analysis, even if we get PANned.

(I really apologize for that last sentence…)

Budget Travel magazine is accepting nominations for “15 Places Kids Should See Before 15.” I nominated Citi Field for obvious reasons: baseball is America’s Pastime, and where else can a kid meet Mr. Met?

Please go to the Budget Travel website and vote a “thumbs up” for Citi Field.

Regardless of how disappointed you are with the way the Mets are looking lately, or how you feel about the financial and legal situations, we are all Mets fans, we are all baseball fans, Citi Field is in fact a nice place to watch a ballgame, and wouldn’t we rather have a kid watch baseball in Flushing rather than, say, the Bronx or Philadelphia? Lord knows we don’t need any more Yankees fans or Phillies fans on this planet.

Go here to vote for Citi Field. Scroll down, find Citi field, click on the “thumbs up” button, and add in any comments if you wish.

Happy New Year everyone! With the holidays now in the rear view mirror and me now settling down into my new job, it’s time to take look ahead to what 2012 might hold in store for the New York Mets.

Like most of us, I have very low expectations for the team this year. Team finances aside, the starting rotation is mediocre at best, there are several defensive liabilities in the projected starting eight, the bench is horrible, there is little speed on the current roster and they play in a tough division. Still, I will watch as many Mets games as I can this year. Now that I have a steady income again, I may even make the pilgrimage from my home in Bethlehem to Citi Field to take in a game or two. I know that there is no postseason in store for the Mets in 2012, but I can think of at least seven reasons to pay attention to the team this year:

On Monday, the Mets announced their long-anticipated modifications to the dimensions of Citi Field.  Among the changes: Blue walls, the demise of the Great Wall of Flushing, a nice outdoor seating area for the Mo’s Zone (which conveniently shortens the outfield wall).

Not changing-The Blogs:

• Metsblog has official pictures and a video of what the new fences will look like.
• Amazin’ Avenue factors in Citi Field’s new dimensions on David Wright’s spray chart.  The results may surprise you.
• Metsmerized isn’t BLUE at all about the changes.
• Mack’s Mets profiles prospect Juan Carlos Gamboa.
• Adam Rubin gets information on the sale to minority shareholders from Jeff Wilpon.
• Faith and Fear says Tony La Russa was the last active manager who managed Tom Seaver.

So, expect more home runs at Citi, and more Mets news from Mets Today.

25 years ago this week, the Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox to win their last World Series title to date.  Some Mets blogs are paying homage to the anniversary.  In other news, while Metsdom is patiently waiting for the announcement of changes to Citi Field’s dimensions (due after the World Series), some details are beginning to leak out.

Blogging the past and present:

• Mets Police has a Bill Gallo cartoon from after Game 1 of the ’86 World Series.  Hint: the goat of game 1 will be the team’s 3B coach in 2012.
• ESPN Mets Blog is recapping each ’86 WS game this week.
• Howard Johnson (Yes, THE Howard Johnson) posted a picture of himself with Kevin Mitchell at the 1986 reunion.  There are also some familiar faces in the background.
• Metsblog says work has already begun on Citi Field’s outfield wall.
• Rising Apple thinks the Mets could go after Ryan Doumit to serve as backup catcher.
• Metstradamus holds the finals of the Hall of Hate contest.  See who the finalists are!

There you have it, the blog roundup for Tuesday.  Check back with Mets Today for more Mets news.