THE BUZZ in PHILLY 

The Phillies and the Mets both got off to identical starts on Tuesday night in their key games against the Braves and the Nationals. Both gave up several runs in the top of their first innings.

It seemed as though both teams would lose, but the Mets would gain, as their magic number would decrease to four.

From the very first pitch, Jamie Moyer was getting no borderline calls from home plate umpire CB Bucknor. A lead-off double, followed by a walk, brought Mark Teixeira to the plate. He was apparently struck out looking, but instead got the close call on the inside corner for a ball and then hit the next pitch to deep center for a three-run homer.

Moyer settled down and didn’t allow another base-runner until Andruw Jones doubled with two outs in the 4th. This proved costly when he then scored on Brian McCann’s single up the middle to put the Braves up 4-1.

Moyer and the Phillies got a ray of hope when home plate umpire CB Bucknor was hit in the throat by an attempted bunt and buckled over in pain. The Philadelphia fans lived up to their reputation with loud cheers when he went down.

Those cheers were subtle compared to the roar when Ryan Howard hit a monster two-run home run (his 43rd) to center to get the Phillies back within one in the bottom of the 4th. And then it got even louder when Jayson Werth hit a two-out bomb (his 8th) to left to tie it up and chase Braves’ pitcher Chuck James to the showers among a sea of white rally towels being whipped in earnest.

With one out in the fifth, Rollins reached first on a swinging strikeout that bounced to the backstop. Chase Utley worked a full count before ripping a single to right field, moving Rollins to third. Utley’s single extended his hitting streak to 19 games. Pat Burrell followed with a sacrifice fly to left to score Rollins and give the Phillies their first lead of the night, 5-4.

Jeff Francoeur led off the sixth with a double and scored on a bloop single by Andruw Jones to knot the game back up. Moyer was removed after getting lefty Brian McCann to ground out. Enter Geoff Geary. Why, you ask? Good question.

Geary’s first pitch to Matt Diaz was smacked to center to score Andruw Jones from second. Yunel Escobar doubled and Edgar Renteria singled to score both runners. Pass the Tums.

Jose Mesa pitched a flawless 7th and Chase Utley hit his 22nd homer of the season in the bottom of the 7th to pull the Phils within 2 runs.

JC Romero pitched a perfect 8th inning (like he could have done in the 6th) but Tom Gordon gave up a two-run homer to Chipper Jones in the 9th.

The Phils went down 1-2-3 in the 9th.

The difference in this game was pretty simple: Bobby Cox managed this game like the 7th game of the World Series, knowing his team needs to win every remaining game to have any shot at the playoffs. He didn’t hesitate to make moves with pitchers, hitters or runners that would help the game situation immediately.

Charlie Manuel should have done the same thing, but didn’t. The three best relievers last week (and probably this month) were JC Romero, Tom Gordon and Brett Myers, usually used in that exact order and all well-rested. Bringing Geary into the game in the 6th instead of Romero made absolutely no sense.

Cox would have brought in the pitcher with the best chance to get his team out of the inning with no further damage (he handled his pitchers brilliantly once the Braves had the lead). Manuel was probably trying to get through the 6th and then go to his Romero-Gordon-Myers combo in the 7th, 8th and 9th. But instead, those innings became meaningless as the Phils trailed 8-5 because of Manuel’s poor decision to bring Geary into the game in a critical situation (and leave him in the entire inning when it was obvious he was not effective).

There’s a reason Cox is a future Hall-of-Famer, and a reason Manuel’s claim to fame will be his strategic errors.

The Mets lost but saw their magic number decrease to four.

The good news is the Phillies’ best relievers are well-rested for game two of the series. Unfortunately, because they are, the Phillies are one game closer to elimination.

Nice job Charlie.

Jon Buzby is a nationally-syndicated columnist who can be reached through his website at www.jonbuzby.com.