(it is high…it is far…it is caught on the warning track)
Based on the damage inflicted by the heart of the Mets batting order yesterday, the only person who oughta be petitioning for changes to the dimensions at RFK Stadium (ie. move the fences back, make ’em higher, etc.) is Livan Hernandez.
From the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga :
Jose Vidro was quite clear. He feels RFK Stadium is unfair to hitters. He thinks the club should have moved in the fences during the offseason. He said so on Wednesday night. And he didn’t back down yesterday — not even from Washington Nationals President Tony Tavares, with whom Vidro engaged in a boisterous argument before yesterday’s 13-4 loss to the New York Mets.
“I don’t regret anything I said,” Vidro said. “I speak for the ballclub. I meant what I said.”
According to two club sources, Vidro and Tavares met in a hallway outside the home clubhouse in the hour or so before yesterday’s game. The two men — one the franchise’s longest-tenured player, the other its outspoken president — yelled at each other about the issue, in part because Vidro accused club management of not caring about the players, in part because he had done so publicly.
“They were in each other’s faces,” one source said. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the tension surrounding the issue.
Asked if he had a run-in with Vidro, Tavares said after the game: “I won’t comment on that. I won’t talk about personnel issues in public.”
At least in the Bannister start from Tuesday, Vidro had a point: he absolutely crushed two balls that would’ve been bouncing off the apple-in-top-hat even at Shea. They were both long outs.
And there were 3 or balls hit against Pedro on Wednesday that would’ve been out of most big league ballparks. But it isn’t as though the Nats have been playing at RFK for 3 days. Presuming they aren’t gonna have a new stadium up within the next few weeks (a safe assumption, I think), tailoring a lineup/offensive approach to the gap-tastic RFK seems like a good idea. Of course, that’s easier said than done when the meat of the batting order includes Nick Johnson (how many IF hits will he beat out this year?) and the free-swinging Alfonso Soriano.
mets hit, what, 4 home runs at rfk yesterday? centerfield used to be 470 feet at yankee stadium. i don’t think babe ruth complained about it too often.