Magic Numbers?

Today was a fun game. The pitching did not give up many runs. The Met hitters just kept hitting and scoring and doing what they are supposed to do, and the defense looked sharp as well. All around it was fun.

I thought Willie made the right move with Mike Pelfrey, in terms of when he took him out. The Mets had a 5-2 lead in the sixth and Pelfrey had one out, so it was 5 and 1/3 innings for him, enough to get the win. The Astros had the bases loaded with the one out. It would have been nice to see Pelfrey get out of it, or have the chance to do so. Still, he has been up and down all year. Although there were a couple of good games, Pelfrey had been winless until his last outing.

By taking him out when he did, Willie assured Pelfrey of not getting the loss (as he would only be responsible for the three men on base and if they all scored, it would only tie the score) and of quite possibly getting his second (straight) win. While it was likely the Astros would score, it was unlikely that all three runners would come home. As it turned out, Jorge Sosa came in and did an excellent job, in part thanks to a great play in the field by Lastings Milledge, and did not let a run score.

What I found a little surprising was after the game the Met announcers talked a little bit about the Mets magic number, I think they said it was 18. It still seems a little early to be talking magic numbers and it seems like discussing 18 as a magic number, is a high number. Usually it does not get discussed until it is in the single digits, and often five or less.

Still, as long as we are talking about the Mets magic number and not the magic number of another team, I am okay with it.

Let’s Go Mets!