Huh?

Coming off yet another heartbreaking loss to the Phils last night, the Mets headed into tonight's game looking for redemption. They got exactly that, as they defeated the Phils by a score of 6-3 to earn a split of the two game series to move back into first by a half of a game.

After getting out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a Carlos Delgado single that scored Jose Reyes, who also singled in the first, the Phillies answered back by scoring two in the bottom of the first thanks to a Ryan Howard homer that scored Jimmy Rollins who singled earlier in the inning. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Phils tacked on another run on a Jayson Werth home run.

In the top of the 6th, the Mets cut the deficit to 3-2 after Carlos Delgado hit his 29th homer of the season, his third in three games. If you've followed the Mets at all this season, or have read this blog, you know that the Mets haven't scored at all late in games. That all changed for one night at least, as they scored four in the top of the 8th tonight.

It all started when Carlos Delgado hit his second homer of the game, 30th of the season, and fourth in three games, when he connected off of Rudy Seanez. He now has hit at least 30 homers in 11 straight seasons. Here's where the title of the post comes in. Delgado's home run came with two outs. Brad Lidge was warming up in the pen presumably to face Delgado, who came in 2-6 with two homers against Seanez. Why didn't Manuel go to Lidge there? Maybe my colleague Matt will have an answer.

Anyway, with the scored tied at 3, Manuel went to Lidge after Seanez gave up an infield single to Beltran following the homer. Beltran then proceeded to steal second without a throw. With Beltran on second, Ryan Church was intentionally walked to bring up the struggling Daniel Murphy who had been 0-3 coming into the at-bat, and had never faced Lidge.

Maybe that was a good thing, because he doubled to right to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Then, Catcher Brian Schneider singled to left to score Murphy and Church to give the Mets a 6-3 lead. Unlike last night, the Phils went quietly in the 9th, as Luis Ayala picked up his second save as a Met.