Six weeks ago, it seemed impossible.
The Mets in first place? No shot. In early June, they were a rudderless group with a lame-duck manager, a washed-up first baseman, inconsistent starting pitching and a shaky bullpen.
Today, they stand alone atop the NL East after dropping the rival Phillies, 3-1, in the series finale before 50,962 at Shea Stadium. This is the first time the Mets have sole possession of first place since April 19.
PHOTO GALLERY: Mets Top Phillies
The Mets bounced back from a devastating ninth-inning loss in the opening game to take the series. They have now won each of the four series the two teams have played this year, still performing the exorcism on the collapse of ’07.
“I’m sure there was a lot of questions whether or not we could play with them,” Mets interim manager Jerry Manuel said. “I think that we have proven that so far in that all the series have been deemed as big series and we’ve probably yet to see the biggest series, so we’ll probably have to keep proving that over and over again until the end of the season.”
The division rivals have five games remaining – two in Philadelphia next month and three at Shea in September.
Yesterday’s victory showed how much this team has transformed in a little more than a month.
n Manuel laughed off criticism from Tuesday night, something his predecessor Willie Randolph never did, and kept the team focused on its next two games.
n Carlos Delgado showed he’s far from washed up, continuing his revival with a game-winning double to left field in the eighth inning that scored Robinson Cancel and David Wright and broke a 1-1 tie.
n Oliver Perez, the poster child for the Mets’ inconsistency, was brilliant with a season-high 12 strikeouts. He has now had five straight quality starts and seems to have conquered his wildness. His one walk yesterday was intentional.
n Aaron Heilman, a target of boos early this season, entered the game in the eighth inning with two outs and the bases loaded. He got Jayson Werth to hit a fly ball to end the inning.
The result of the resurgence is the Mets atop the standings.
“It feels great,” Delgado said. “It shows that we have a lot of character, that we have everyone’s back. This is a tough division. We turned things around, and we’ve been consistently playing better, having better at-bats, great pitching – today was a great example with Oliver out there. If we pitch and we continue to focus and grind out – obviously we have the talent here – I think we’re going to be alright.”
Perez stole the show. The 12 strikeouts were his most since Sept. 9, 2004, when he had 14 as a member of the Pirates. He struck out Philly left-handers Chase Utley and Ryan Howard three times each.
“When I face some teams, I just try to think that they’re the best team in baseball,” Perez said. “And when I take the ball, I’m thinking that I’m the best pitcher in the league. I’m just trying to make pitches.”
The Mets gave Perez a 1-0 lead on a Wright single in the third inning. He mowed through the Phillies until Werth led off the seventh with a solo homer to deep center field.
Perez loaded the bases in the eighth when he hit Howard with a pitch, but Heilman bailed him out, then Delgado did the rest.
The Mets celebrated bouncing back from Tuesday’s brutal loss to take the next two.
“I think we all look back and know we should have won all three games,” said Billy Wagner, who notched his 26th save. “I think that’s what we look at, and if it comes down to that one game, it’s something that you’ll regret. But I think that winning two of three says a lot about our team.”