NL: Phils capitalize on goof

NEW YORK - A day after rallying to beat Pedro Martinez, the Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of Tom Glavine's defense and headed out of New York with the wild-card lead.

David Bell blooped a two-run single in the first after Glavine's misplay of a potential inning-ending grounder, backing Jon Lieber's strong outing and leading the Phillies over the Mets 3-1 Thursday.

Ryan Howard boosted the Phillies' margin with a 430-foot homer in the ninth off Braden Looper.

"Right now, we're very confident. We're not letting one loss turn into two," said Billy Wagner, who completed the four-hitter by converting his 23rd straight save chance since May 24.

Philadelphia, which remained a half-game ahead of Houston in the wild-card race, won two straight after wasting a lead in the opener of the three-game series. The Phillies headed to Washington to complete their 12-game trip, then return to Philadelphia for a homestand against wild-card rivals Houston and Florida and East-leading Atlanta.

"Everybody's playing each other right now," Howard said. "People are knocking heads. Two out of three will be good anywhere you go."

New York dropped 21/2 games behind the Phillies and left for a trip to Florida, Atlanta and St. Louis. The Mets were in position to take over the wild-card lead before Martinez failed to hold a 2-0 lead in an 8-2 loss Wednesday night.

"I don't know what the heck I'm doing, but overall, everybody's just trying too hard," said Cliff Floyd, who hasn't homered since Aug. 16. "Hopefully, we can get it back because it would be a shame to waste what we've done so far."

BRAVES 8, NATIONALS 7 (10): Andruw Jones gave his MVP campaign another boost, leading off the 10th with a towering homer to lift host Atlanta. The Braves squandered a 7-1 lead before salvaging a split of the four-game series.

The crowd chanted "MVP! MVP! MVP!" as Jones led off the 10th. Luis Ayala got ahead 1-and-2, then tried to blow a high fastball by him.

Jones sent a drive toward the seats in left-center. Brad Wilkerson and Marlon Byrd leaped at the wall, but the ball settled in the first row for Jones' 44th homer and 110th RBI of a career season.

Washington scored four in the seventh with two outs to tie it. Jim Brower walked former Devil Ray Jose Guillen with the bases loaded. Macay McBride did the same with Nick Johnson. Dan Kolb took over and gave up ex-Ray Vinny Castilla's two-run single.

ASTROS 3, REDS 1: Roy Oswalt remained perfect against Cincinnati and host Houston swept the three-game series. The right-hander improved to 15-0 in 19 appearances against the Reds, the most wins without a loss by any pitcher against one team in history. Oswalt had a season-high 11 strikeouts.

PADRES 6, BREWERS 5: Khalil Greene hit a two-run homer in the eighth, and visiting San Diego crept back above .500. The West-leading Padres won their third straight to climb above .500 for the first time since Aug. 12.

[Last modified September 2, 2005, 02:15:35]