"Well, that part's true," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said.

Until last season, the Phillies and Mets had a rivalry based largely on geography. But Rollins' comments in January 2007 that the Phillies were the "team to beat" in the NL East fueled two-year war of words between the teams. The Phillies overcame a seven-game deficit with 17 games left to edge the Mets for the division title on the final day of last season, and the teams are vying for the NL East crown once again.

Entering Friday night, the Mets had a three-game lead, the Phillies' largest deficit since May 11. But the Phillies won Friday night, 3-0. The victory, coupled with Schmidt's e-mail, prompted questions about whether the Mets are already worrying about last season's collapse.

"I think it's only natural, if we win three games," Rollins said. "If not, they'll take a deep breath and get a chance to probably re-gather themselves. But if we win all three games, naturally, you're going to think back to that. It's human nature."

Schmidt's e-mail read as follows: "One pitch, one at-bat, one play, one situation, think 'small' and 'big' things result, tough at-bats, lots of walks, stay up the middle with men on base, whatever it takes to 'keep the line moving' on offense, 27 outs on defense, the Mets know you're better than they are. They remember last year. You guys are never out of a game. Welcome the challenge that confronts you this weekend. You are the stars."

Said manager Charlie Manuel, "I think that was him really sending us a message of how much he likes us and how much he's pulling for us to win. That's what I got in that message. I think our guys, especially the ones that were here last year and the veteran guys on our team, I think they know what we have to do and what's at stake. And I think we know how we're supposed to handle it."

PHILLIES 3, METS 0: Greg Dobbs belted a two-run homer in the seventh inning Friday and Brett Myers tossed eight scoreless innings to lift the Phillies to a victory in the opener of a three-game series at Shea Stadium. Myers is 4-0 with a 0.58 ERA in his last four starts. He struck out 10 batters for the 11th double-digit strikeout game of his career. Dobbs had two of the Phils' four hits. Brad Lidge overcame a two-on, one-out jam to record his 34th save in as many chances this season.