The rally began with a single by Jason Werth, and it ended with the Phils edging the Mets in the first game of a three-game series at Shea.

No, I am not talking about the game tonight, in which the Phils rallied from a five-run deficit in the ninth to win 8-6 with the aid of the woeful Mets bullpen. I am talking about the Phils' tenth-inning win over the Mets on September 17 of last season.

The Mets ended their previous series with Braves winners of ten out of their last twelve games and up by seven games with 17 left to play. The Phils were within 3-1/2 games by the end of the series. The Mets continued their historic slide going 5-12 in their last 17 games and finishing, of course, out of the money.

To add insult to injury tonight, former Phil and Punch-and-Judy Met number-two hitter Endy Chavez had a big night reaching base four times and going 3-for-4 but was thrown out at home twice on balls to the corners. In both cases, the call to send Chavez was highly questionable even though good throws were required to nab him. The first was on a relay from Pat Burrell to Jimmy Rollins and the second was a one-hopper to the plate from right-fielder Jason Werth.

Also, ill-advised Phils acquisition Joe Blanton, was his typical abysmal self allowing five runs on eight hits, including two home runs, and three walks in his Phils debut. And of course, he was facing Johan Santana, one of the best starters in the game.

The Phils now throw the ever-ineffective Brett "Iron Pig" Myers tomorrow in his first game after being recalled from Triple-A. The Phils are still 15-20 since June 8. The Mets are 23-14 over the same period. The Phils offense is still floundering.

But somehow the Phils will pull it out. You could see it in the faces of the Mets faithful who again watched the Metgoes snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Brad Ziegler pitched two more scoreless innings tonight for the A's and in the process extended his scoreless inning streak to 15. He joins 276 other men on the list of pitchers with an 0.00 ERA for their careers.

But Ziegler has the most career innings for a pitcher with a zero ERA. Here are the pitchers with seven or more innings:

You might notice that the one "pitcher" with a career that stretched beyond one season was, curiously, Honus Wagner.

Here's the list of pitchers with no earned runs allowed in their career that pitched more than one season. You might notice must of them are not known, if they are known at all, as pitchers: