Carlos Delgado and the Mets botched the final Shea Stadium opener the same way they squandered that big lead in the NL East last year.

April or September, doesn’t seem to matter. The Mets can’t find a way to hold off Philadelphia.

Jamie Moyer pitched six innings, Jayson Werth hit a tie-breaking single and the Phillies rallied past New York 5–2 yesterday with the help of Delgado’s key error in the seventh.

“Definitely not the start we wanted to get off to,” Mets star David Wright said.

It was another late comeback by Philadelphia, which took advantage of the Mets’ epic collapse last September to win the division title. New York led by seven games with 17 to play, but went 5–12 down the stretch and missed the playoffs.

The Phillies had a lot to do with that meltdown, beating the Mets in their final eight meetings last year and winning the season series 12–6.

Make it nine in a row now.

“There’s none of us in here going, geez, the Phillies are coming to town, we’re probably going to lose,” Mets closer Billy Wagner said. “I think all of us are tired of hearing the Phils have our number. The Phils don’t have our number. We shoot ourselves in the foot every time we go out there.

“When they come here, they bring it. They show up and they play great. That’s what we have to do.”

Chase Utley tied a major league record by getting hit by a pitch three times for the Phillies, who won despite stranding 13 runners.