On Tuesday, the Mets finally got their revenge on the Phillies for an ancient loss. Best of all, this time the outcome had meaning.

On August 14, 1962, Al Jackson, a little lefty who was the best pitcher on the early Mets, got locked up in a duel with, of all people, Dallas Green, who would go on to manage the Mets three decades later. Richie Ashburn drove in a run in the bottom of the third to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. The Phillies came back with a run in the top of the fifth to tie the game – and that was it. The scoreboard remained frozen for hours. Green left in the 11th inning having allowed seven hits and one run. Despite also walking seven batters (something he never would have tolerated from, say, Jason Isringhausen), the ineffectual Mets were incapable of getting a run home.

Meanwhile, Jackson soldiered on, inning after inning. Manager Casey Stengel went wild with his bench, flinging pinch-hitters and pinch-runners with abandon. The only thing he didn’t do was put in a call to the bullpen. The Mets were going to play a double-header the following day, and Stengel wanted to save his relievers. Besides, it was the 1962 Mets – the other options weren’t all that exciting, anyway.

Things finally fell apart in the top of the 15th inning, when an error by Marvelous MarvThroneberry opened the door to two Phillies runs. The Mets failed to score in the bottom of the inning (Throneberry came to the plate as the tying run but made an out) and the game went into the books as one of 120 humiliations the Mets suffered that year, number 87 to be precise.

Tuesday’s 16-inning, 9-8 triumph over those same Phillies was far more significant. Last week the Mets were scuffling and it seemed, if just for a moment, that the Phillies and Braves might make a race of the NL East. Both still could, of course, particularly if young pitchers can make up for some of the depth the two teams are missing. The Phillies need Cole Hamels to stay healthy (at this writing he’s suffering from shoulder soreness), while the Braves could use a strong showing from Chuck James, currently rehabilitating a hamstring injury in the minor leagues.The Braves may also be a bat or two short.

Despite the weaknesses of these two clubs, it seemed likely that the Mets might choose the end of May to give them a hand up by going on a prolonged losing streak. But two onerun wins against the Yankees in three games (potentially a three-game sweep if not for Billy Wagner’s inexplicable meltdown in the second game) made a statement about the team’s refusal to be intimidated. Tuesday’s Carlos Beltranpowered win was an even bigger one, coming against the second-place team in the division and pushing a two-game swing in the standings in the Mets’ favor.

One of the best signs for the Mets was the way Willie Randolph out-managed Charlie Manuel. Perhaps “out-managed” isn’t the right term. Randolph simply managed. Manuel did something else, not managing – maybe it should be called watching, or paralyzed voyeurism – that has earned him a reputation as the man who is holding a good team back. Ryan Franklin, who gave up three runs on three hits and recorded three otus in the loss, is a Very Bad Pitcher. That’s official. When describing most pitchers, we refer to them by an abbreviation for the hand that they throw with. Southpaw Tug Mc-Graw was a LHP, Tom Seaver a RHP. Franklin is a VBP. The Phillies acquired him from the Mariners last winter for reasons that are hard to gather now that the parties involved have sobered up. Franklin has no strikeout pitch, a shortcoming that leads to many balls in play, which in turn leads to home runs and other unfortunate things that happen to VBPs. As bad as the Phillies’ starting pitching has been this season, the team hasn’t put former starter Franklin into the rotation, a testimony to his weak stuff.

One good move the Phillies made this past off-season was to sign Tom Gordon away from the Yankees.They gave the 38-year-old reliever a three-year deal, which they will likely have cause to regret someday. In the short term, Gordon has been terrific, resuming the closing duties he set aside three years ago to set up for Mariano Rivera in the Bronx. With a 1.45 ERA in 20 games this season, Gordon has been one of the most effective relievers in baseball.

On Tuesday, Gordon was willing to pitch, but never did. Instead, with the Phillies up 8-5 in the bottom of the eighth, Manuel brought in Franklin to get Cliff Floyd, Kaz Matsui, and Endy Chavez. This was in itself a strange call. Arthur Rhodes, a lefthander, had pitched the bottom of the seventh for the Phillies. Floyd, Matsui, and Chavez are a lefty, a switch-hitter, and a lefty, respectively. Rhodes had thrown just seven pitches in the seventh, so it’s not like he was bushed. Regardless, in came the VBP. Franklin retired Floyd and Matsui on two pitches, then Chavez reached on a bobbled relay throw to Franklin. Manuel sat on his hands.

Randolph sent up pinch-hitter Chris Woodward. He doubled, scoring Chavez. Neither Manuel nor Gordon is anywhere to be seen. Jose Reyes homered, tying the game. Franklin pitched on. Manuel brought in Ryan Madson, a reliever turned starter who has been a punching bag for most of the season. He pitched excellently until the fatal Beltran homer. It was his 105th pitch of the night – in relief.

After the game, Manuel conceded that Gordon was available but he had planned on going even further with Madson. Randolph had deployed his closer in the 11th inning. Manuel, by contrast, used his bullpen poorly in the eighth inning, then was enslaved by the idea that a closer has to pitch with a lead, and so he kept waiting, losing sight of the fact that it’s more important to win any way you can than to get a save. Unlike Stengel back in 1962, Manuel had options, but he declined to use them.

If that behavior comes to characterize his decision-making this season, the Mets will almost certainly claim their first NL East crown since 1988.

Mr. Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible for www.yesnetwork.com and is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.