What is all of this nonsense about not rooting for the Yankees against the Phillies? Look, I hate the Yankees too, actually as I have maintained it is the Yankee fans that I hate but never the less. Baseball is a numbers game. In order for the Mets to win the division they must win more games then the second place team can possibly win. The Phillies are currently 35 and 36, a total of 71 games. That means they have 91 games to play. Here’s a silly example to prove this point. If the Phillies were to win all 91 games remaining they would end with a record of 126 and 36. That would be quite a story. In order for the Mets to beat them out, they of course would have to win at least 127 games, even a bigger story (actually it is mathematically impossible for the Phillies or Mets to reach these numbers since they play each other 10 more times). Today the Mets have 44 wins. To reach 127 the Mets need to win 83 more games. This is known as the magic number. Of course this number changes every day. If the Mets win their 45th game tonight and the Phillies lose against the Yankees then the Mets will only need to win 81 more games. Every win for the first place team and every loss by the second place team subtracts from the magic number. Now it is obviously way too early to start thinking about magic numbers but you can see that every game counts. As much as you root for the Mets to win, you want the teams behind them to lose too. It makes getting to the pot of gold that much more attainable. So when I hear Mets fans say they would rather have the Phillies beat the Yankees I say you should definitely consider counseling of some type. Is your hatred of the Yankees greater than your love of the Mets? If so, you’re not getting as much out of this great season (or life for that matter) as you should or could. Listen when the Mets play the Red Sox next week, I’ll make the same argument to Yankee fans. If they want the Sox to beat the Mets then they don’t have their heads on straight either. If it makes you feel any better, you’re not rooting for the Yanks, you’re simply using them for your own needs. In this way you can feel like you are taking advantage of them. It certainly is a peculiar happenstance, which I can agree.
To the Mets: Nice win. I really love the games when the Mets have a big lead because I can relax a bit. Kudos to Willie for allowing Trachsel to start the seventh inning. Yeah, Steve got into trouble but he was pitching well through six and he should have gotten the opportunity to go longer. He just ran out of gas (or should I start saying E85). Sanchez once again gets the big double play ball to end the threat. I think the key with Sanchez is to make sure he gets rest. When he is overused is when he seems to run into trouble. But rested he appears untouchable. Did he really get hit by that ball? To me, the replay showed that it hit off the bat. But what a job of acting by Sanchez; “And the Academy award for best fake hit by pitch goes to…”
Notes: Pelfrey shines again. 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, and the win. That was Mike Pelfrey’s line last evening in the B-Mets game vs.
In other minor league news, the Brooklyn Cyclones opened their season by losing to the Staten Island Yankees by a score of 18 to 0. Ugh, but really who cares?
