Phillies Retain Wild-Card Lead

A day after rallying to beat Pedro Martinez, the Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of Tom Glavine’s defense and headed out of New York with the NL wild-card lead.

David Bell blooped a two-run single in the first after Glavine’s misplay of a potential inning-ending grounder, backing a strong outing by Jon Lieber and leading the Phillies over the New York Mets, 3-1, Thursday.

Ryan Howard boosted the Phillies’ margin with a 430-foot homer in the ninth against Braden Looper.

“Right now, we’re very confident. We’re not letting one loss turn into two,” said Billy Wagner, who converted his 23rd consecutive save chance since May 24.

Philadelphia won two in a row after blowing a lead in the opener of the three-game series. The Phillies headed to Washington to complete their 12-game trip, then return to Philadelphia for a homestand against wild-card rivals Houston and Florida, and East-leading Atlanta.

“Everybody’s playing each other right now,” Howard said. “People are knocking heads, Two out of three will be good anywhere you go.”

New York dropped 2 1/2 games behind the Phillies and left for a trip to Florida, Atlanta and St. Louis.

“I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, but overall, everybody’s just trying too hard,” said the Mets’ Cliff Floyd, who hasn’t homered since Aug. 16.

Atlanta 8, Washington 7 -- Andruw Jones gave his most-valuable-player campaign another boost, leading off the bottom of the 10th inning with his 44th home run.

San Diego 6, Milwaukee 5 -- Khalil Greene hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Padres (67-66) crept back above .500 at Milwaukee.

Houston 3, Cincinnati 1 -- Roy Oswalt improved to 15-0 against the Reds, and the Astros swept the three-game series at Houston.