NEW YORK – Carlos Delgado and the New York Mets botched the final home opener at Shea Stadium the same way they squandered a 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 effective innings, Jayson Werth hit a tiebreaking single and the Phillies rallied past New York 5-2 Tuesday with the help of Delgado’s key error in the seventh.

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.

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

The Mets wasted Delgado’s first homer and a solid outing by Oliver Perez, getting off to a disappointing start in the final season at Shea Stadium, which opened in 1964. The team is set to move into an intimate new park next year – Citi Field is rising in the parking lot.

New York also dropped to 30-17 in home openers and 7-1 in Shea Stadium openers against Philadelphia.

NL MVP Jimmy Rollins was booed loudly, as usual. Mets reliever Scott Schoeneweis (0-1) also heard it from the crowd of 56,350 after he and Delgado let the Phillies come back from a 2-0 deficit in the seventh.

Rockies 4, Braves 3

DENVER – Right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez overcame a shaky start and Matt Holliday hit two run-scoring singles in the Colorado Rockies’ 4-3 win over the hard-luck Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.

Each of the Braves’ five losses so far have come by one run.

The Rockies still haven’t busted out of their offensive funk, but they finally topped the three-run mark in a game.

Coming in, they had scored just 12 times in their first seven games, the lowest run production in the majors and half the number of runs that they had scored in their previous worst start, in 2002.

Cardinals 5, Astros 3

HOUSTON – Troy Glaus hit a two-run double in the eighth inning to propel the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-3 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

Glaus’ hit, off Geoff Geary (0-1), bounced off the lower portion of the bullpen wall in right-center field and scored Chris Duncan and Albert Pujols.

Anthony Reyes (1-0) pitched three scoreless innings of one-hit ball, and Jason Isringhausen worked a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

Brewers 3, Reds 2

MILWAUKEE – The Brewers bailed out Eric Gagne again.

Rickie Weeks singled home the winning run off David Weathers (0-1) in the 10th inning and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 on Tuesday night.

With two outs and two strikes in the ninth, Gagne blew his second save in three chances when he allowed Corey Patterson to hit a homer just over right fielder Corey Hart’s leap to tie the game.