Mets pound Lidle, end Phillies' nine-game winning streak

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Tom Glavine used his bat and his arm to end Philadelphia's longest winning streak in 15 years.

Glavine pitched seven strong innings and drove in a pair of runs to help the New York Mets beat Philadelphia 13-4 on Wednesday night, snapping the Phillies' nine-game winning streak.

The Mets pounded Phillies starter Cory Lidle (3-4) early, with eight players getting hits and all nine scoring while building a 10-0 lead through three innings. The NL East-leading Mets pushed their lead back to four games over the second-place Phillies, who were on their longest winning streak since a 13-game run in 1991.

"It was a nice game for me to have an early lead and have the guys keep tacking them on the way they did," Glavine said.

Jose Reyes homered for the Mets, who bounced back from a 5-4 loss in the first game of the series on Tuesday to win for the 10th time in their last 14 games. All of their starters had at least one hit as the team finished with a season-high 17.

Glavine (5-2) cruised in winning his third straight start, allowing three runs, four hits and striking out four. Even more impressive was the way the .188 career hitter swung the bat, with a two-run double in the third and a single up the middle in the fifth. He also walked on four pitches with two outs in the sixth.

"If I could hit and have someone be a designated runner, it would be good," he said, smiling.

The two hits gave him as many hits as he allowed to the Phillies at that point. Pat Burrell's two-run homer in the fourth was his only mistake and that only cut the lead to 10-2.

Glavine improved his career record to 280-186.

"I'm just thankful I've stayed healthy to put them all in," he said.

It had been quite a turnaround for the Phillies, who got off to a 1-6 start and finished 10-14 in April. The winning streak began on April 30 with a 5-1 victory in Pittsburgh that avoided a three-game sweep against the woeful Pirates.

"We just have to throw this one out the window and bounce back tomorrow," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Lidle ran into a little bit of bad luck in his two-plus innings. Three of the eight runs he allowed were unearned because of two errors on first baseman Ryan Howard and one of his own.

Two of the errors led to two runs in the first and Paul Lo Duca added a two-run double in the second to make it 4-0. Then the Mets smashed the game open with a six-run third.

Three straight singles loaded the bases when Howard made a nifty pick of a hard Xavier Nady grounder, only to throw the ball into left field for a two-run error that made it 6-0. That was it for Lidle, who was booed off the mound.

"I couldn't figure out why they were on my pitches," Lidle said. "I thought maybe I was doing something with my glove."

Glavine then doubled in two runs and Reyes hit a two-run drive, his second, to make it 10-0. Glavine and Reyes each singled in the fifth and scored on Carlos Beltran's double.

"That's the way we have to play, come out and be aggressive and make things happen," Mets manager Willie Randolph said.

Howard added a solo shot in the seventh.

The Mets scored their most runs since beating Milwaukee 13-4 on April 13 and the Phillies allowed their most runs since St. Louis scored 13 on Opening Day.

Game notes
Glavine became the 38th pitcher to reach 4,000 career innings on the mound. ... The Phillies plan to call up top pitching prospect Cole Hamels to make his major-league debut Friday against the Cincinnati Reds. The 22-year-old left-hander is 3-1 with a 1.04 ERA in seven minor-league starts this year. He has 65 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings and opposing batters are hitting just .168 against him. ... Randolph said he will switch the rotation for this weekend's series at Milwaukee. Right-hander Jose Lima will now pitch Friday and right-hander Jeremi Gonzalez will pitch Saturday. ... Right-hander Chris Booker was claimed off outright waivers by Kansas City, which put the Phillies at 38 on their 40-man roster. Booker was selected by the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft. ... The Mets have homered in 14 straight games. ... Lo Duca finished with three RBI.