Resilient Mets take charge in NL East

NEW YORK — Jerry Manuel was curious to see how his New York Mets would respond after a heartbreaking loss to Philadelphia.

They answered with two big wins.

Carlos Delgado hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the eighth inning and Oliver Perez stifled the Phillies again, helping the Mets win 3-1 Thursday to take sole possession of first place in the NL East.

The Mets took two of three in the series after blowing a three-run lead in the ninth inning of the opener. They are alone in first place for the first time since April 19.

"I'm very proud of the way this team bounced back after that game the other night," said Manuel, who has managed New York to a 21-12 record since Willie Randolph was fired last month. "We've been resilient for a long period of time."

Philadelphia has lost four of five and will host Atlanta in the opener of a three-game series tonight.

"Something's not in tune," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We have to pick it up. I don't know if it's hungry enough. I haven't put my finger on it, but we have to get after it more. We don't now have that extra kick, the kick we used to have."

New York got another dominant outing from Perez, who had a season-high 12 strikeouts and allowed one run in 7-2/3 innings. The left-hander is 1-0 with a 0.35 earned-run average in 26 innings against Philadelphia this year and has a 1.35 ERA over his last four starts overall.

"Just trying to make pitches and the more important [thing], I always say, trying to [keep] my team in the game," Perez said.

Delgado hit a two-strike pitch from J.C. Romero into the left-field corner in the eighth to drive in Robinson Cancel and David Wright, who was intentionally walked before the big first baseman came to the plate with two outs.

Left-handed hitters were 5 for 68 (.074) against Romero this season before Delgado's clutch hit, which made the slugger 3 for 18 lifetime against the Phillies' reliever. He is batting .397 with five homers and 16 RBI in July after slumping for much of the year.

"I'm not doing anything different," Delgado said. "I got my timing back."

The Phillies' 45-year-old starter, Jamie Moyer, retired eight of his first nine batters before running into trouble in the third, hurt by an uncharacteristic lapse in control. The left-hander set down 13 of the last 14 hitters he faced and allowed one run and two hits in seven innings.