It’s Fun Again for Leiter, Mets

Al Leiter hugged Turk Wendell in a loud clubhouse. Derek Bell played catch with fans in the second deck. Mike Hampton skipped off the field after shaking hands with teammates.

And Manager Bobby Valentine wore a disguise in the dugout--and even could laugh about it.

All around, these New York Mets looked like winners Sunday.

Leiter (15-7) restored a sense of calm to Shea Stadium, pitching his first shutout of the season as the Mets put a stop to their September swoon with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

“We came out and played relaxed ball,” Valentine said.

Valentine got in on the act too, using a few strips of black tape to concoct a mustache and goatee in the sixth inning. Last season, he put on a similar face with eye black and sneaked into the dugout after being ejected, drawing a two-game suspension and $5,000 fine.

The Mets broke their three-game slide, winning for only the second time in nine tries this month to move 4 1/2 games ahead of Arizona in the NL wild-card race.

Montreal 4, Atlanta 0--Tom Glavine (19-7) failed in his bid to become the major leagues’ first 20-game winner, giving up two-run homers to Fernando Seguignol in the second and Andy Tracy in the sixth at Atlanta.

Javier Vazquez (9-7), winless in eight starts since beating Florida on July 23, struck out a career-high 11 and pitched a six-hitter for his second complete game of the season.

San Francisco 10, San Diego 2--Barry Bonds and Ellis Burks each drove in two runs in a five-run first inning at San Francisco as the Giants stopped a two-game losing streak that followed eight wins in a row.

Kirk Rueter (10-9) threw five-hit ball for seven innings for San Francisco.

Houston 7, Chicago 6--Sammy Sosa hit his major league-leading 48th home run but Richard Hidalgo hit a pair for the second consecutive day at Chicago.

Hidalgo led off the second and sixth innings with home runs, both off Jon Lieber (12-9), and went eight for 13 the series.

Milwaukee 4, St. Louis 3--Luis Lopez hit a game-tying single off Mike Timlin in the ninth inning and Ron Belliard doubled home the winning run off Andy Benes (10-8) in the 10th at Milwaukee.

Cincinnati 6, Pittsburgh 4--Alex Ochoa drove in a career-high five runs with a three-run homer and tiebreaking double in the seventh at Pittsburgh.