It’s all on the line today at Shea. The Mets are tied with the Phillies for the NL East after getting a huge performance from John Maine yesterday who flirted with a no-no before it was broken up on the luckiest of bounces with four outs to go.

The starter came up big for his team striking out a career high 14 Marlins including seven straight at one point.

Meanwhile, the Mets’ offense exploded for 13 runs including two homers from rookie Lastings Milledge for his first career multi-homer game. Luis Castillo also had a big day as a looser Met ballclub teed off to break their five-game skid and snap an eight-game losing streak at home.

The Phillies obviously felt the pressure later after seeing the score as they only managed two runs (both solo homers) off Matt Chico and three Nats’ relievers in a 4-2 home loss.

Down two, their defense did them in as Ryan Howard fumbled a ground ball at first and was unable to throw home as the Nats tacked on two more key insurance runs for a 4-0 lead.

It would prove large because Aaron Rowand and Howard hit solo shots in the seventh and eighth to slice it in half but Chad Cordero retired the side in order to close the door.

And so after fighting so hard to make a miraculous comeback from seven down to take the lead on the Mets with two games left, Philadelphia felt the pressure that their rival felt and now they’re all even again setting the stage for today.

Will their be a big one-game playoff tomorrow in the city of Brotherly Love to decide things?

All depends on today’s outcomes. The Phillies will know as they take the field that the Mets with it all on the line that they have somehow fallen behind 5-0 to a motivated Marlins team due to a near brawl yesterday where they felt shown up.

The game is still in the first inning with Florida batting and Tom Glavine booed off the mound which really stinks for the classy veteran.

Dontrelle Willis will get the lead when the Mets bat.

Jamie Moyer will be going for Philadelphia probably hoping he doesn’t have as bad an inning as Glavine. Especially with Charlie Manuel using his pen early and often yesterday.

There’s also a slim chance for a crazy four-way tie between the Mets, Phils, Rockies and Padres for the wildcard which San Diego leads by a game as they try to wrap it up half an hour from now in Milwaukee for the second consecutive day after Trevor Hoffman blew the save with two out in the ninth.

The three teams trail San Diego by a game. So the formula is pretty simple. They need to win their games and hope for a Padres loss. That would setup a wild mini-playoff tournament with the Mets and Phils playing for the division Monday (looking unlikely at the moment as the Mets now trail the Marlins by a touchdown in the first inning). The loser would then play against the Rockies and Padres to decide the wildcard, meaning that the NL postseason wouldn’t start until Thursday at the earliest.

The Mets trail the Marlins 7-0 as they bat in the first against Willis. We’ll update what happens later with this game as well as the other big games today.