Citi Field with Shea Stadium's Home Run Apple (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to ESPN stats, attendance at Citi Field is down about 10% in 2012 through the first 19 home games. The Mets are averaging 27,683 paid per game. They finished 2011 averaging 30,108 in a park with a capacity of 42,000.

The Mets finished 2011 averaging 14th in MLB in home attendance. So far in 2012, they’ve slipped to 16th in the league.

Of course, much of attendance can be attributed to on-field performance. But the Mets have surprised early this season tied for third in the NL East and attendance is still slipping. The visiting opponents have a lot to do with interest in buying tickets as well. So far, the Mets have hosted the Braves, Nationals, Giants, Marlins, D-Backs, Brewers, and Reds.

The backlash against the Wilpons for the Madoff Ponzi scheme lawsuit also has something to do with fans staying away from Citi Field in my opinion. Allowing Jose Reyes to walk away in free agency because of related financial constraints didn’t help sway ticket buyers either.

It’ll be interesting to watch how attendance fluctuates this season. My guess is that the average game attendance continues to slide as the Mets begin to gravitate toward their predicted finish of an under-.500 team.

After losing a blowout Friday night and a pitching dual yesterday, the Mets try to avoid leaving Toronto empty-handed. The Blue Jays can send the Mets packing for Pittsburgh with a sweep today.

It may not be easy either as the Mets send Dillon Gee to the mound. He got bombed by the Brewers in his last start for 7 runs in 5.1 innings and the Phillies got him prior to that for 4 runs in 5.2 innings. Basically, he hasn’t been pitching well in the last two weeks.

Contrast that with Blue Jays starter Henderson Alvarez. He’s gotten wins in three of his last four starts and his ERA is 1.03 in May.

On paper, it doens’t look good for the Mets. But I have to say that early in the season the Mets haven’t let losses start to pile up on them. They’ve done a good job of coming back with wins before there can become a series of losses. Today will be a big test of that resilience that we’ve seen thus far in the season.

Much has been written this year about Ike Davis’ struggles at the plate. And he sure has struggled mightily. But when you look at his splits, he’s not hitting that badly on the road. He just can’t hit a lick at home. Going into tonight, his slash line for the season is .173/.236/.276. Really ugly!

But if you look at his home/road splits, he’s not hitting that badly on the road. He’s hitting a home run every 16 at-bats on the road this year. That’s better than his (short) career numbers of a home run every 25.8 at-bats. His slash line on the road this year is .286/.340/.490. Not bad.

Take a look at his home/road splits:

I’m not sure what to make of his road success this year in the same number of plate appearances and at-bats as he’s had at home. Do you?

Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada did a face plant on first base legging out a bunt in the fourth inning yesterday. He just got tripped up before the base and stayed on the ground for a few minutes. It was bad enough that he left the game and had an MRI.

It looks like the damage is a strained quad and facial cuts and bruising. He’ll probably go on the DL today before the Mets start their series in Philly.

Jordanny Valdespin is already on his way to Philly to re-join the team. He’s played in 7 games this year with only 6 at-bat’s and no hits. He’s also been playing the outfield at Buffalo but he’s a natural middle infielder.

It’s a shame to see this happen to Tejada so early in the season in a freak play like that. He’s been a big surprise to me so far this season. I thought he was going to be an automatic out but he’s been solid offensively hitting .305 with a .762 OPS.

Jeremy Hefner (Photo credit: SD Dirk)

The Mets decided to replace Chris Schwinden in the starting rotation with Miguel Batista… For now. But they should take a look at what Jeremy Hefner’s been doing at Buffalo so far this season. He’s 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA in 33 IP. He threw 6 scoreless innings over 5 games for the Mets this spring too.

Hefner may be over-matched my Major League pitching but he’s mastering the Triple-A level right now and deserves a shot at Mike Pelfrey’s vacated rotation spot.

Hefner isn’t a kid either. He’s 26 years old. So any concerns about bringing up and inexperienced pitcher are unfounded. He’s been pitching in the minors since 2007. I know it isn’t the majors but he’s been around for a few years.

Let’s face it. At 41 years old, with a 6.92 ERA this season Miguel Batista probably isn’t the answer for the rotation. The Mets are trying to hold out for fragile Chris Young to be ready to pitch, which will probably be at the end of May or beginning of June as he comes back from last season’s shoulder surgery. But Hefner deserves a shot in the meantime.

Mets starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey underwent Tommy John surgery today in Alabama by Dr. James Andrews. The surgery will force Pelfrey to miss the rest of the 2012 season and, in all likelihood, end his disappointing Mets career.

Pelfrey was a non-tender candidate coming into 2012. So it’s impossible to imagine him coming back to the team following a major injury. If he doesn’t come back, he’ll be remembered by Mets fans as a big disappointment after being the 9th overall draft pick in 2005. Hopes were high for Pelfrey to continue the Mets tradition of drafting and developing great starting pitchers that goes back to the 1960′s.

To be exact, Pelfrey’s Mets career will end at 50-54 with a 4.36 ERA and 1.458 WHIP. Not a stellar career. But most of all, the Mets fans that I know and talk to regularly regard Pelfrey as lacking the intestinal fortitude or desire to face tough situations and triumph. Maybe he doesn’t have the competitive spirit or something similar but he frequently seemed to wilt in difficult moments.

His odd ticks like chewing on his mouth guard, excessively licking his hands, or anything else, and his three balks in one game in San Francisco in 2009 come to mind. That’s always been a source of frustration and comedy for us. Maybe we’ll miss that, but I doubt it.

It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Pelfrey went on to some level of success somewhere else. As a matter of fact, I’ll even throw it out there right now that he’ll probably throw a no-hitter for someone else. Let’s just face it now that it’s going to happen and get over the anger it’s going to cause.

Former Met Philip Humber threw the 21st perfect game in MLB history today for the White Sox against the Mariners in Seattle. Humber was drafted by the Mets in 2004 and traded to the Twins in 2008 as part of the Johan Santana deal.

Add Humber to the list of fomer Mets that threw a no-hitter, or perfect game in this case, once they left the Mets. It drives me crazy every time I hear about another for Met throwing a no-hitter as the Mets come up on 9,000 games without one.

Congratulations to Humber and here’s to hoping someone on the 2012 roster can finally break the streak and leave the Padres as the only team without a no-hitter in team history.

CBS Sports is reporting that the Mets are delaying working on a contract extension for David Wright. I wrote that the Mets should offer Wright a contract to keep him with the team for the foreseeable future. But they’re choosing to wait because of Wright’s recent down seasons and some big contract extensions signed by comparable players recently that would increase the value of any contract Wright would sign

It’s a gamble for both parties to wait on an extension for Wright. If he plays well, it’s in Wright’s best interest to get to free agency and exercise his full market potential. But the Mets are at risk of losing Wright to a contract that they can’t, or won’t, match in free agency like Jose Reyes.

I think the Mets are crazy to gamble on Wright by waiting until he gets closer to free agency. The team has him under control through 2013 with an option year. But as he plays well, his motivation to sign an extension with the Mets will decrease. The team should really try to get something done on a long-term extension before the end of the 2012 season. They could even backload the deal and reduce the $16 million they’ll owe Wright next year in the option. It could give them some flexibility in the offseason while they wait out Jason Bay’s and Johan Santana’s contracts.