Not surprisingly, pinch hitter So Taguchi made Mets’ fans worst fears realized by delivering a tying two-run double to right over Endy Chavez. Then everyone’s fave Jimmy Rollins followed suit with a two-run go-ahead double. A couple batters later, the Phillie shortstop would come into score a sixth run on Ryan Howard’s RBI fielder’s choice.

By the time the Mets’ hottest reliever Aaron Heilman got into the ninth recording the final out, the damage was done. I have to question Manuel on why he didn’t put in Heilman after Sanchez got into trouble. He had been pitching very well and probably would’ve been the best choice.

Still, in this Relief Era Error ruled where pitch counts prevent most starters from finishing what they started unless your name’s Roy Halladay (real best pitcher in the game), you have to ask why Santana wasn’t out there to at least start that fateful ninth? It’s ridiculous. The guy tossed eight allowing two earned on eight hits walking none and fanning four. Without Billy The Kid, he has to be out there.

Instead, the Amazin’s suffered a crushing home defeat failing to move a game up in the standings. Instead, combined with a Marlins’ 4-0 blanking of Atlanta in which four pitchers combined to one-hit the former NL East front runners and ex-Met Mike Jacobs slugged a three-run homer, the Mets find themselves tied for second a game behind those Phils.

Does such a devastating loss set the tone for the next two days in Queens? Will this get the struggling Phillies going. They were 12-18 in their last 30 blowing a seven and a half game lead as the Mets turned around their season following the Willie Randolph firing.

The Mets should still have the edge in tonight’s game with John Maine facing recently recalled one-time Phillie closer Brett Myers following a minor league stint. A win would cure what happened and make fans forget. The middle game of this series now becomes crucial. We’ll see what they’re made of.

-Is it any wonder that Phillie big pickup Joe Blanton struggled serving up a pair of two-run dingers to Carlos Delgado and Ramon Castro? At least he went six and tossed four more pitches than Santana.

-Over in the Bronx, the Yankees continued their sizzling play improving to 5-0 since the break with an 8-2 win over the Twins. Darrell Rasner gave them a boost pitching into the sixth on what should have been just one run allowed due to first base umpire Mike Dimuro’s bad call ruling that Jason Kubel was safe on a potential inning ending double play in which Jason Giambi showed great athleticism to start it. Instead, the Twins took a 2-1 lead before eventual rookie winner David Robertson got the final out.

The Yanks have been swinging hotter bats lately and finally, they got going in the bottom half against Kevin Slowey. With Johnny Damon on first distracting the Minny starter enough, he grooved an inside heater to Bobby Abreu, who deposited it into the short porch for a 3-2 Yankee lead. Alex Rodriguez followed with a single for his second hit of the night to keep it going and then swiped second. After Jason Giambi was walked, resurgent second baseman Robinson Cano continued his hot hitting delivering a run scoring single to center putting them up a pair.

The following inning, the Bronx Bombers put the game out of reach batting around for four more highlighted by a two-run double from team captain Derek Jeter making it 6-2. An Abreu double and Giambi single increased the margin to six.

Relievers Jose Veras (1 IP, K) Kyle Farnsworth (1 IP, BB, 3 K’s) and Dan Giese (1 IP, H, K) finished off the final three frames pulling the Yanks to a season high 10 games over (55-45). With first place Tampa Bay falling to Oakland 8-1, they’re now just three and a half out. Meanwhile, Boston got a solid outing from Dice K, who pitched into the eighth permitting just a couple of runs while walking two and fanning six in a 4-2 road win over the Mariners to pull within half a game of first. They still lead the Yanks by three for the wild card.

-With his major league-leading 41st save, Angels’ closer Francisco Rodriguez is just 16 saves short of the major league record established by former White Sox closer Bobby Thigpen, who had 57 saves in 1990. With 62 games remaining, it’s a pretty good bet that the potential 2008 free agent will set a new record.

-With their fifth win in six, the Rockies remained seven behind NL West leader Arizona, who beat the NL-leading Cubs a second straight time to go a game up on the Dodgers. Ironically, that’s who Colorado beat getting homers from Brad Hawpe and Ian Stewart in a 10-1 rout bouncing back from a 16-10 defeat. They’re still 14 below .500 (44-58) but if they hang around in that weak division and play their cards right, I still believe they got a shot to comeback and win it.

-Did you ever think you’d see the day that WNBA players would be fighting and getting tossed out of games with suspensions coming? That’s precisely what occurred during a game between the Shock and Sparks in Auburn Hills much like that infamous brawl between the Pacers and Pistons a few years back.

With 4.6 seconds left in a game Los Angeles won 84-81, Sparks’ rookie Candace Parker got tangled up with the Shock’s Pienette Pierson, who then ran into her touching off the fireworks. Parker, who paced her team with 21 responded by throwing a punch before Deanna Nolan took her down as coaches and players left the bench highlighted by Detroit assistant Rick Mahorn knocking down former WNBA MVP Lisa Leslie, who tried to play peacemaker.

Ironically, the former Bad Boy was also involved in the 2004 brawl as a Pistons’ broadcaster trying to prevent Ron Artest from going into the stands. LA coach Michael Cooper thought he was trying to keep the peace but was “too big.”

Though this was far from as ugly as that NBA incident, it was disturbing to say the least. The three officials should have gotten better control preventing it to escalate following a hard foul from Detroit’s Cheryl Ford on Parker. This was definitely disappointing and suspensions and fines will be certain to follow.

-Finally, why must ESPN deliberately put a FAVRE portion on their bottom line ticker as if it were a scoreboard? Talk about insanity. I’m as tired as most of the whole Brett Favre escapade. That the people in Bristol would go this far tells you all you need to know about how out of touch they really are.