FanNation - The Republic of Sport

CINCINNATI -- The Mets quickly reached unusual coordinates on Sunday afternoon, a point where the immediate past and immediate future intersect. Their sense of achievement certainly hadn't faded when a sense of anticipation pushed into their thought process. Another final at-bat victory against the Reds was to be savored, but at the same time, the Mets' pending series against the Phillies was to be recognized.

Pennant races do blur the lines that separate what has been done from what must be done.

This race -- for the 2008 championship of the National League East -- has reached a critical point. The teams tied for the lead, the Mets and Phillies, are to play three games at Shea Stadium this week, beginning Tuesday night. The Mets prepared for their next engagement by playing poorly but winning, 7-5, in 10 innings over the Reds on Sunday. And the Phillies lost to the Marlins, who are crowding the co-leaders in the division.

The Mets' less-than-impressive performance essentially was ignored. Ninety-nine games into it, they have reached another bottom-line segment of their season.

Manager Jerry Manuel offered something other than acclaim for his team's performance when this one was secure.

"We can't afford to go in [to the Phillies series] and not be playing winning baseball," he said. "We didn't play good baseball, but we won."

And a moment later, he spoke this footnote: "But if we win three games, I'll be happy, no matter how we play."

Pennant races also blur the lines that distinguished what's preferred and what's necessary -- and acceptable.

So just as Manuel put aside his team's poor performance on Saturday night, he didn't fret about the lack of style points on Sunday afternoon. He had been less bottom-line oriented when he replaced Willie Randolph. His priorities then were to change his team's approach and outlook and reinforce its sense of self. Victories would come, he knew, if he could effect those changes.

Now beating the Phillies -- and the Cardinals and Marlins after that -- is the only objective.

The Mets put themselves on equal footing with the Phillies when they took advantage of the Reds' bullpen and defense in the 10th inning and achieved their 11th victory in 13 games.

The decisive run scored on a throwing error by third baseman Edwin Encarnacion on a ball hit by Argenis Reyes. The second run against losing pitcher Bill Bray was the result of a sacrifice fly by Carlos Delgado, who had driven in the Mets' fifth run as well.

A leadoff pinch-hit double by Robinson Cancel and a bunt single by Jose Reyes set up the critical play.

Encarnacion made his errant throw to second base, allowing Cancel to score from third base and Reyes to reach third. Delgado than delivered his 22nd RBI in 21 games and continue the remarkable reversal he has executed in the last month.

Delgado had three hits, including a double, walked once and scored once. He had eight hits, three runs and five RBIs in the four-game series in Cincinnati. He had scouts who had dismissed him in May, rethinking and cleaning their glasses. "For a while now," Manuel said, "he's been the dangerous, dangerous threat he was in Toronto and Florida."

Delgado had assistance on Sunday, as Reyes had four hits -- one that established a club record for career triples, 63. He scored three times. Ramon Castro hit a two-run home run the third inning to give the Mets a 3-1 lead. A sacrifice fly by David Wright in the fourth extended the lead to three runs. With Mike Pelfrey pitching, the Mets were in a favorable position.

But Pelfrey, who had allowed merely four home runs in 108 2/3 innings before Sunday, surrendered three in seven innings. The third one, to Brandon Phillips in the sixth, created a 5-4 Reds lead and imperiled Pelfrey's streak of victorious successive starts, which was six when the day began. The Mets tied the game in the seventh against Jeremy Affleldt, who had replaced Reds starter Edinson Volquez. Affeldt started the inning with a walk to Wright, who then stole second base. When Delgado followed with a single, the Mets tied the score.

The Mets had led 1-0 and 4-1, treating Volquez, the NL leader in ERA, as he has been treated just once in his All-Star season. He had allowed no more than three runs in all but one of his 19 previous starts. The Blue Jays had scored seven runs against him June 26.

Carlos Beltran drove in Jose Reyes in the first inning with a single, and after Adam Dunn had tied the score in the second with his 28th home run -- the first run allowed by Pelfrey in 17 innings -- Castro hit his fourth home run in the third.

Pelfrey allowed his second home run, to Encarnacion, after the Reds had scored twice in the fourth. Ken Griffey Jr. led off with an opposite-field double that left fielder Marlon Anderson lost in the sun. Phillips' ground-ball single to right might have been handled by a first baseman better equipped than Delgado.

"We didn't make plays, we didn't [do] enough with the opportunities we had," Manuel said.

And then he smiled, as if to say "So what?"