THIS ONE MAINE-LY ZEROES

Mets 1, Cubs 0, 10 innings (NYM: 60-41 , CHC: 39-61)

It took a while for the Mets to get a hit on Wednesday afternoon at Shea...and it took even longer for them to finally scratch out a run. But when they did, it ended the game, and gave the Mets a big win before heading out on a 6-game road trip, and a longer stretch against divisional opponents.

John Maine matched up with Mark Prior in Wednesday's game, and both were awesome. Prior walked 5 through 5-and-2-thirds, but left in the sixth without allowing a hit (he's been constantly injured, and had thrown 103 pitches, so I'm sure Cubs fans couldn't blame Dusty Baker for that decision). Maine went 7 innings, giving up just 3 walks and 3 hits, while striking out 7. Neither pitcher, obviously, gave up a run, and for Maine, that's now 17 (and two-thirds) straight scoreless innings, following up his complete game, 4-hit shutout of the Astros on Friday. It seems like Maine will be in the rotation for a while now (ERA now 2.45). Mike Pelfrey will get to make one more start, but if he's not effective, he might be sent down to the minors. If the Mets decide to keep Pelfrey around, we might see someone like El Duque go to the bullpen. (Interesting note on Maine - during the Astros' broadcast of the shutout, the Astros' broadcasters said he is the only player in Major League history to have a last name that is spelled exactly the same as one of the states. I think that's interesting - football had Joe Montana...wonder if other sports have other state players?)

So the Mets figured out how to stop the problem of giving up 8 runs a game - but in this game, they didn't get their first hit until the 7th inning, and they couldn't score. The walks helped, and Jose Reyes stole his league-leading 41st base, along with 2 stolen bases by Carlos Beltran - his first in months. But none of those guys could cross the plate. Hopefully the Mets put it all together in Atlanta this weekend.

They certainly finished the game strong. After 3 shutout innings by the bullpen (Duaner Sanchez, Billy Wagner, and Aaron Heilman), the Mets loaded the bases in the 10th. Beltran singled, Carlos Delgado doubled down the left field line (all with two out), and David Wright was walked intentionally, bringing up Jose Valentin. He's had a ton of success with the bases loaded this year, so the Mets must have felt good about him in that position, and he came through with a bullet up the middle to win the game. (I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up on the DL, though, after the celebration at first base - the Mets need to work on that...they beat the crap out of Valentin.)

The Mets are off on Thursday (I'll see what I can dig up for a posting - perhaps the Mets will pull off a trade - deadline is just 4 days away), then it's a big series in Atlanta, with Pedro Martinez* pitching game one. Heath Bell will get sent back down to Norfolk before Friday's game to make room on the roster for Martinez*.

**NEW FEATURE** MAGIC NUMBER: I'll tell you my first exposure to the term "Magic Number". It was, of course, 1986. Every day in the Daily News, when it became clear the Mets were running away with the division, the News ran a picture of Davey Johnson pulling a rabbit out of a hat, with the Mets' magic number for clinching the NL East in the hat. I quickly learned the term "Magic Number", and being numerically and statistically inclined, I've been sort of obsessed with it ever since. So I've calculated the Mets' magic number right now to be 51. Every day I will update it, until I am proven to have the wrong magic number, or until the Mets clinch. If you're new to the concept, every time the Mets win, or the second place team loses (right now that's the Braves), the magic number decreases by one. So it's the combined number of Mets' wins or second-place losses before the second place team is mathematically eliminated from the division crown. Steve from Queens, you made a prediction about when the Mets would clinch the last time I saw you - care to have that prediction published? Because it was early-to-mid September, and it seems like it was accurate...but I can't remember the specific date. So if you want me to mention the date on the site, please write me with it, if you remember it.

A WORD ON WAGNER: Overshadowed, I guess by the Mets' recent struggles, has been Billy Wagner's performance. He threw a scoreless ninth inning, on just 11 pitches, and would have come back out for the 10th, but his position in the batting order came up in the bottom of the ninth, and he was pinch-hit for. It was Wagner's fifth straight appearance without allowing a run - and in those appearances he's given up just 2 hits and a walk. Wagner has very good post-All Star break numbers in his career - if that holds true this year, the early-season struggles won't matter. And his performances of late seem to indicate that things are getting better when the Mets have a lead in the ninth inning.

STATS FOLLOWING WEDNESDAY'S GAME: The win was the Mets' 10th in their last at-bat this season - that leads the majors. They're one better than Milwaukee in that situation. Actually, that must be walk-off wins...because the Mets have 15 wins overall in their last at-bat - which probably includes road games. It was also the Mets' 22nd win in one-run games - they're 22-10 in one-run games, best in the majors there too.

ELSEWHERE IN THE MAJORS: Did you notice the Twins just completed a 3-game sweep of the White Sox to move into a tie with Chicago? The Twins have been on fire since the All Star break, and the White Sox have been ice cold. The Yankees won late Wednesday, so both the Sox and the Twins are a half-game behind New York for the AL Wild Card.

The Phillies are awful (and therefore do not scare me), but Chase Utley is pretty good. He's riding a 26-game hitting streak right now.

THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets are back on track, outscoring Lakeland, 8-6, on Wednesday night. They're still 3 games out of the second-half-of-the-season division lead.

ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: Another 0-for-3, this one with 2 strikeouts, on Wednesday night for Edgardo Alfonzo with Norfolk. Alfonzo is now hitting .207. He did reach base with a walk...but he was caught stealing. Also interesting from this game - Jose Lima got the loss, droppping his record to 6-6. Lima actually pitched pretty well...as he bides his time in Triple-A, waiting to get his ring.

BEAT THE STREAK: Bill Hall got me an early-game homer, so I'm at a 6-game hitting streak right now. Thursday I'll stick with afternoon baseball, and I'll go back to that Arizona-Philadelphia series and take Bobby Abreu, because I like his career numbers against D-Backs starter Claudio Vargas.