Yet again, the Mets take advantage of another club’s mistakes, with the wacky third inning of Monday’s  8-3 win a lovely example. Bunt hits when they weren’t meant to be, reversed calls that never seem to happen — and all capped with real, genuine base knocks.  And another great outing by John Maine — hey we have a keeper, don’t we? — ties it all up in a neat package.

With the victory, the Mets magic number continues its freefall, landing at …

18.

Chai!  Straw!  Good number.

The lead over the Phillies is now 15 1/2 games, 17 over the Marlins as of this writing.