Mets down Phils 3-1 to takeover 1st place.

In an early afternoon contest, the Mets took the field behind Oliver Perez and defeated the Phillies 3-1.

Perez pitched masterfully for 7 innings getting 12 strikeouts and giving up just one run on a Jayson Werth solo shot leading off the seventh. With the score 1-1, Perez pitched into trouble in the eighth, however. A one-out double by Eric Bruntlett, an intentional walk to Pat Burrell and a hit batsman (Ryan Howard) forced Jerry Manuel to pull Perez for Aaron Heilman. Heilman got Jayson Werth to fly out to Carlos Beltran in deep center for the final out of the inning.

Robinson Cancel pinch hit for Aaron Heilman leading off the bottom half of the eighth and stroked a single to left field. Jose Reyes then sacrificed him to second. Endy Chavez lined out to the pitcher, J. Romero for the second out. Romero then intentionally walked David Wright putting men on first and second. That strategy backfired when Carlos Delgado doubled home both Cancel and Wright. Delgado was out at third trying to advance on the throw to the plate. The Mets had a 3-1 lead going into the top of the ninth.

Of course, Billy Wagner got the call. And he got the first two batters with ease. Shane Victorino popped out to Delgado at first and Pedro Feliz flied out to Beltran in center. But then Chris Coste singled to left and was replaced by pinch runner Carlos Ruiz. That brought the tying run to the plate in the form of pinch hitter Jimmy Rollins. Rollins hit the first pitch on the ground to third baseman David Wright who threw to second baseman Damion Easley to force Ruiz and end the game.

Aaron Heilman (1-3) gets the victory and Wagner registers his 26th save of the season. The Mets are now in first place alone; one game ahead of the Phils who head home to face Atlanta, and 1.5 games ahead of the Marlins who play the Cubs in Wrigley tonight.

The Mets take the field again at 7:10 PM on Friday night at Shea against the St. Louis Cardinals.

(I always wanted to be a sportscaster or writer.)