4th and 6

The New York Mets whittled their magic number to clinch 4th place in the National League East to 6 when the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals 5-0. The Mets, however, continued to imbue the Battle for the Upper Basement with tension, strategically configuring a shutout loss of their own at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, 6-0. The Mets' four hits can be taken as a sign that their eyes are focused squarely on the 4th place prize.

Any combination of Mets victories and Nationals setbacks totaling 6 will give the Mets their first 4th place crown since 2004.

Four things to think about as the quest for next-to-last continues:

1. The 2009 Mets, who abandoned their quest for a winning record Sunday night, have now ensured their 25th losing mark in 48 seasons of operation by making Tuesday's loss their 82nd of the year. The Mets' two other full-season 4th place finishes (1996 and 2004) yielded records of 71-91. To be as good as those Mets, these Mets must win eight of their final seventeen games. In 2007 and 2008, the Mets went 5-12 and 7-10, respectively, having entered the last two years with presumably impenetrable divisional leads of 7 games in '07 and 3½ games in '08.

2. The Mets record since peaking at 28-21 on May 31 is 35-62 for a winning percentage of .361 that translates, over 162 games, to a 58-104 record. After a five-game winning streak brought the Mets to 49-51 on July 30, they have gone 14-31, for a winning percentage of .311, a rate producing a 50-112 record across 162 games. It would thus seem delusional, even taking the team's myriad injuries into account, to assert some form of significant Met retooling isn't necessary. Are they a 58- or 50-win team in 2010 if those on whom they counted in 2009 are healthy and back? No. Are they, as Bart Hubbuch contended in the Post, “a potential 97-win team” just because they went 15-10 with Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and David Wright playing together? Even more no. Reyes 2010 is an unknown quantity. Delgado will be even less of a certainty, if he's invited back. And given the long recovery time from the bone bruise, there has to be at least some question mark attached to Beltran's long-term viability. We also haven't seen Wright hit with power outside Citizens Bank Park. Even if all four guys are here and healthy, how can a team piecing itself together after four horrible months, the last two of them particularly abysmal, not be considered ripe for retooling? Not necessarily blowing them up, as Hubbuch puts it, but seriously considering every possibility? The Mets at their worst have played like a 50-win team. At their best, they didn't look remotely like a 97-win team.

3. The 2010 Mets will open their season at home against Florida on April 5 and close it at home against Washington on October 3. It is unclear how those games and the 160 games in between will develop, but Matt Artus of Always Amazin' examines the phenomenon of dynamic pricing and surmises few of the 81 home dates will be bargains despite this year's questionable value: “You can bet that things won't get cheaper anytime soon. If you want to watch a winner, you'd better be prepared to pay.”

4. AMAZIN' TUESDAY was truly Amazin' and we thank everybody who spoke, everybody who attended, everybody who helped spread the word and everybody working at Two Boots Tavern for making it such a fantastic time. If I were to tell you several dozen Mets fans sat together in a room with the Mets game on and had loads of fun, you would never guess the event took place in the present. But it did. Our team may have expired, but Mets fandom dies hard, baby.