Dribbler And Drive Beat Mets

Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies over the New York Mets, 4-2, at Citizens Bank Park. Jimmy Rollins also homered for the Phillies, who have won three straight, including the first two of this four-game set, to draw within four games of the Mets for the lead in the NL East. Howard finished 3-for-5 and Rollins went 2- for-5 for Philadelphia, which also drew within 2 1/2 games of the Padres for the lead in the wild card race. Carlos Delgado hit a two-run homer for the Mets, whose bullpen failed to hold on to a two-run lead with just six outs remaining. Moises Alou ended 2-for-2 for New York, which has dropped three straight. With Guillermo Mota (1-1) starting his second inning of relief on the hill for New York, Shane Victorino began the frame with a single to center. Howard then drove a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left to make a winner of reliever Brett Myers. Myers (3-5) tossed two perfect innings, capping a strong outing by the Phillies pen. In total, three relievers worked 4 1/3 frames of one-hit ball. Trailing 2-0 in the eighth, Rollins greeted New York reliever Pedro Feliciano with a homer over the wall in left. Then, after a Chase Utley groundout, Feliciano walked Pat Burrell on four straight pitches to set up the lefty- lefty matchup against the dangerous Howard. The move temporarily paid off as Howard flew out to left for the second out. Aaron Heilman then came out of the pen for the Mets to face the right-handed- hitting Aaron Rowand. Pinch-runner Victorino immediately stole second and Paul Lo Ducas throw went into center field to allow Victorino to move to third. He then scored the tying run when Rowand reached on a swinging bunt. The ball slowly rolled up the dirt next to the third-base line, coming to rest halfway between home and third. Lo Duca, third baseman David Wright and Heilman all surrounded the ball, anticipating it rolling foul. The rally continued for the Phillies, as Jayson Werth reached on an infield single and pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs worked a walk. But Chris Coste grounded out to Heilman to end the inning. The Mets blew a strong outing by starter Tom Glavine. The lefty allowed just eight hits and struck out one over seven scoreless innings of work. Philadelphia starting pitcher Adam Eaton, who was activated from the 15- day disabled list prior to the game, avoided the setback. The right-hander allowed two runs on five hits, striking out one and walking two, in 5 2/3 innings. Delgado put the Mets ahead early against Eaton. After Alou singled to center to lead off the second inning, Delgado followed with a blast that went into the second deck in right. Game Notes Delgado has 19 HRs this season. It was his 426th career HR, moving him into a tie for 38th with Billy Williams on the all-time list...Glavines strikeout of Werth in the second inning moved him into sole possession of 26th place on the all-time list with 2,558...To make room for Eaton, the Phillies designated pitcher John Ennis for assignment...The Mets optioned pitcher Brian Lawrence to Triple-A New Orleans to make room for OF Endy Chavez, who was activated off the DL prior to the game. Chavez was out since June 6 with a hamstring injury...Werth had his streak of consecutive at-bats with a hit end at nine. He struck out in his first at-bat, falling one hit shy of the National League record of 10 straight at-bats with a hit. Werth ended 1-for-4.