Riding another September surge, Ryan Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies are back in first place.
The New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers appear headed in the opposite direction – no matter who is managing them.
Howard cracked a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning for his fourth hit Tuesday night and the Phillies won their fifth straight game, rallying for an 8-7 victory at Atlanta that gave them the NL East lead.
“He’s big in the moment,” manager Charlie Manuel said.
Philadelphia moved a half-game ahead of the slumping Mets, who continued their latest collapse with a 1-0 road loss to Odalis Perez and the Washington Nationals.
The race is shaping up just like last September, when New York squandered a seven-game cushion with 17 to play and lost the division title to the charging Phillies in one of baseball’s biggest meltdowns.
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This time, it took only six days for the Mets to cough up a 3 1/2-game advantage. And they lost another valuable player to injury when productive outfielder Fernando Tatis separated his right shoulder diving for Perez’s double. He’s out for the rest of the year.
Jerry Manuel, who took over as manager when Willie Randolph was fired in June, called a team meeting before the game. But it didn’t stop the slide, and the Mets have lost four of five.
Perhaps their only solace is a half-game lead in the wild-card race over Milwaukee, in serious trouble of its own. One day after firing manager Ned Yost in a stunning move, the Brewers sent ace CC Sabathia to mound at Wrigley Field and still lost 5-4 to the Cubs.
Chicago cut its magic number to four for clinching a second straight NL Central title, spoiling Dale Sveum’s debut as interim manager and handing Sabathia his first loss since Milwaukee acquired him July 7. The Brewers have dropped five straight and 12 of 15, blowing a comfortable lead in the wild-card standings.
“We’ve been in that position for quite a long time and we lost it tonight. We have 11 games left to get it back,” Sveum said.
In other NL games, it was the Los Angeles Dodgers 6, Pittsburgh 2; Arizona 2, San Francisco 0; Florida 5, Houston 1; Cincinnati 7, St. Louis 2; and Colorado 10, San Diego 3.
nth when he stepped to the plate with two on and two outs. But he was called out on a 3-2 curveball by Kerry Wood, who earned his 31st save in 38 chances.
“He made a good pitch,” Fielder said. “He’s one of the best closers and it was fun going at each other. It’s part of the game. Somebody has to win.”
Alfonso Soriano homered off Sabathia (9-1), who had won 12 straight decisions dating to a June 5 loss to Texas when he was still pitching for Cleveland. He gave up four runs and nine hits in seven innings.
Ryan Dempster (16-6) allowed two runs in six innings to set a career high for wins.
At Washington, Perez (7-10) held the Mets to four hits in 7 1-3 innings and scored the only run of the game. He struck out six and walked none in his longest outing since Aug. 11, 2005.
Joel Hanrahan worked a perfect ninth for his ninth save.
Pelfrey (13-10) tossed seven strong innings but got no support from New York’s offense.
“We’re still in position, but we just have to start again. It’s getting tougher and tougher every day,” Jose Reyes said.
At Atlanta, Brad Lidge escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to stay perfect in 37 save chances with Philadelphia, which leads the division for the first time since Aug. 26.
major leagues.
“Maybe it’s just the pennant races are heating up,” Howard said. “I’m just trying to go out there and do what I can to help my team.”
Making a late push for NL MVP despite a .249 batting average, Howard leads the majors in homers and RBIs (136).
Ryan Madson (4-2) struck out three in two perfect innings.
Dodgers 6, Pirates 2
At Pittsburgh, Derek Lowe (14-11) allowed five singles over seven innings to improve to 6-0 in six career starts against the Pirates, and Los Angeles edged closer to the NL West title.
Casey Blake homered and tripled his first two times up after sitting out Monday night with lower back stiffness. Manny Ramirez had three hits for the second successive night, including an RBI double in a four-run second. The Dodgers won for the 14th time in 16 games and lead Arizona by 4 1/2 games in the NL West.
Diamondbacks 2, Giants 0
At Phoenix, Dan Haren struck out 12 for his first career shutout. Haren (15-8) allowed four hits in his sixth career complete game and first in two years. His strikeout total matched the career-best he set for Oakland against Texas in 2006.
Chris Snyder and Stephen Drew homered off Matt Cain (8-13).
Marlins 5, Astros 1
oss for the Astros, who fell three games behind New York in the NL wild-card race.
Cantu’s three-run homer in the first, his 27th, ended Roy Oswalt’s franchise-record scoreless innings streak at 32 1-3. Oswalt (15-10), who had lasted at least eight innings in five of his previous six starts, allowed five runs – three earned – and six hits over six innings. He struck out 10 to tie his season high.
Reds 4, Cardinals 2
At Cincinnati, Bronson Arroyo (15-10) set a career high for wins and Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run double. Arroyo improved to 5-0 in his last six starts and sent St. Louis to its season-high sixth consecutive loss.
Rockies 10, Padres 3
At Denver, Chris Iannetta hit his first career grand slam and Jeff Baker had a three-run homer for Colorado, which had lost eight of nine. Ubaldo Jimenez (11-12) pitched seven strong innings.
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