The tale of two New York baseball teams is being told as we approach the final weekend before the superhyped final All-Star Game at legendary Yankee Stadium in the cathedral which will soon be replaced by a brand new state of the art ballpark across the street.

For one team at least, they can feel pretty darn good about themselves because the Mets have finally discovered that magic formula under interim manager Jerry Manuel reeling off seven in a row including last nite’s 2-1 squeaker over the visiting Rockies at Shea.

Oliver Perez was rock solid for a third consecutive outing permitting just a run despite walking six before giving way to a pen which wiggled out of a couple of bases loaded jams including Aaron Heilman getting the last two Rockies swinging in the seventh. Pedro Feliciano followed suit by escaping a similar jam in the eighth keeping the contest tied to set the stage for surprising veteran second baseman Damion Easley who provided the heroics with a solo shot in the bottom half to give his team another huge victory.

For once, Billy Wagner closed it out 1-2-3 getting the final out on a deep fly to Carlos Beltran which kept the Amazin’s red hot with a season high seventh win in a row to remain tied with the Marlins a game and a half out of first.

Meanwhile in the City of Brotherly Love, the Phillies cameback to beat the one under NL West-leading Diamondbacks 6-5 in 12 innings getting a crucial two-run eighth inning tying triple from gritty center fielder Shane Victorino and a walkoff Jayson Werth RBI base hit to win for the second straight time. Ryan Howard added his major league best 28th dinger.

While the Mets should feel good for closing the gap after trailing by as much as seven to the Phils, the Yankees have to be increasingly frustrated with their inconsistency.

Having looked like they were about to put something together by taking the last two against Boston and sweeping a two-game series from the suddenly slumping first place Rays (lost fifth straight last night), they followed it up by turning Paul Maholm into a Cy Young candidate scoring just two runs in a depressing 4-2 loss to the Pirates in a makeup game Thursday. After a Bobby Abreu two-run single tied it, Pirates’ All-Star center fielder Nate McLouth responded by hitting a gamebreaking two-run home run off normally reliable Jose Veras in the seventh.

It allowed the Pirates to take the series despite another good outing from veteran Mike Mussina (6 IP, 2 ER, 9 H, 5 K’s).

The problem for the Bronx Bombers is that the very next night, they had to deal with Toronto ace Roy Halladay, who brought his ‘A’ game to the table outpitching rookie Joba Chamberlain (6.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, HR, 9 K’s) while going the distance for his impressive major league-leading seventh complete game two-hitting them while walking one and fanning eight.

Only veteran infielders Alex Rodriguez (fourth inning single) and Derek Jeter (ninth inning ground rule double) got hits off Halladay leaving the Yankee captain singing the Toronto ace’s praises:

“He never throws a ball over the middle of the plate. If you face him four or five times a game, you might get one pitch over the plate. He goes from corner to corner as good as any pitcher in the game. He’s probably the best starter in baseball, I would think. I know I’m a little biased because we face him 10 times a year. He’s as consistent as anyone.”

Pretty hard to disagree with that assessment. It’s always been my belief that Halladay and Brandon Webb were the best pitchers in the game. Cue up the arguments.

Unfortunately for Jeter and the Yankee Pinstripes, they blew another golden opportunity to gain valuable ground on Tampa Bay, who lost again to the lowly Indians 5-0. It’s also worth noting that second place Boston also dropped a home game to the Orioles 7-3 remaining a game and a half out of first while the Yanks still trail by six and a half and seven in the loss column.

It’s vital for them to bounceback over the next two days before the break. However, that doesn’t seem likely with struggling fifth starter Darrell Rasner going against Jesse Litsch later today. If he does win, then the finale would see veteran southpaw Andy Pettite take on fireballer A.J. Burnett in a potential great match-up.

We’ll see if Joe Girardi’s ballclub can finish strong.