Mets 3, Phillies 1: The Mets are alone in first place for the first time since April 19 thanks to Oliver Perez, who had a season-high 12 strikeouts and allowed one run in seven 2/3 innings. He’s 1-0 with a 0.35 ERA in 26 innings against Philly, who started Eric Bruntlett at shortstop because J***y R*****s showed up late to Shea. After the game, Charlie and Jerry Manuel announced they’re still not brothers.

Blue Jays 7, Orioles 1: Roy Halladay gave up a run in seven innings to earn his 12th win in 19 decisions. Adam Lind and Marco Scutaro each had three hits for the Jays, and two relievers who look like they just woke up closed out the eighth and ninth to get Toronto to .500.

Brewers 4, Cards 3: Milwaukee finished off a four-game sweep at Busch with their third game-winning homer of the series, this time from Ryan Braun. For the series, 16 of Milwaukee’s 17 runs came in the 5th inning or later, and they’ve given the Cards their first four-game losing streak of ‘08. The Cardinals bullpen has blown 24 saves, which is hilarious if you really think about it.

Pirates 9, Padres 1: Poor Bud Black: it really can’t get much worse the Padres, losers of nine of their last 10. Nate McLouth, Jason Bay and Xavier Nady each homered for the Bucs. The trio of Pittsburgh outfielders have combined for 56 homers and 188 RBI.

Giants 1, Nationals 0: Your dark match of the day pitted the 81-122 Giants/Nationals. Tim Redding lost a toughie, giving up a run in eight innings. He was one-upped by Matt Cain, who struck out four, yielded four hits and went nine strong. Since documenting Tim Redding’s hot start on this here section in May, he’s gone 1-2 in 12 starts.