PHILADELPHIA -- Orlando Hernandez's baseball cap was an issue well before his funky assortment of changeups and curveballs.

As the Mets crafty righty finished his warmup tosses in the bottom of the first inning, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel engaged in a discussion with home-plate umpire Adam Dowdy. A mound conference followed with umpires, Mets players and both managers, and Hernandez removed his cap for inspection, under suspicion of using a foreign substance.

Finding only rosin and dirt, the umpires allowed El Duque to begin what was a systematic dismantling of the Phillies in the first game of Friday's day-night doubleheader. Perhaps motivated by being wrongfully accused, Hernandez tossed six strong innings, and the bullpen held on to a 6-5 win to take the crucial first game of the four-game National League East showdown.

"I was kind of glad they did that," said Mets manager Willie Randolph, who added that it may have been payback for April 17, when the Mets made starter Freddy Garcia change his glove. "[Hernandez] competes either way, but any time you get him lathered up a little bit, it's always good."

El Duque said little about the incident, though his teammates said he was sufficiently lathered. He responded by rubbing soap in the Phillies' eyes. The offense presented little challenge, save for solo home runs from Aaron Rowand and Chris Coste, who just returned from Double-A Reading and appeared as a pinch-hitter in the sixth.

"I concentrate on my game, that's it," Hernandez said. "Everybody who wants to know, go to Manuel. Ask him, not me. OK. Thank you."

"We were talking about it in the dugout," said Manuel, adding that the Phillies noticed it right away. "There was something on the back of his hat, and I was wondering what it was. I had nothing to lose. It was rosin and dirt, and the umpire said it was OK. If it was legal, fine. If it wasn't, I wanted to know about it."

Gamesmanship aside, the Mets torched starter J.D. Durbin for six runs in 4 2/3 innings, yet Durbin lowered his ERA from 94.50 to 21.94. He had allowed seven runs in two-thirds of an inning while pitching for the Diamondbacks earlier in the season.

The 25-year-old righty started strong, striking out the side in the first.

"I tried to do more after that," Durbin said. "The big thing is getting ahead of hitters, and I had trouble doing that in the middle innings."

The inconsistency that has prevented him from living up to his billing as a top Twins prospect showed. The righty was tagged for eight hits, including home runs by Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes. The Mets also plated three runs in the fourth.

Delgado's homer, Durbin and Manuel thought, was on a pitch down, where Delgado loves them.

"He's a notorious low-ball hitter," Manuel said.

"It's tough to shake," Durbin said. "I watched the replay 10 times, and I'd throw that pitch again. I threw that pitch in the location I wanted."

The Phillies' bullpen held the Mets from there, but the offense fell short. Wes Helms lofted a two-run homer off Guillermo Mota in the seventh, and Pat Burrell singled in a run in the eighth, after Michael Bourn singled and stole second.

Former Phillies closer Billy Wagner took it from there, striking out the side on 14 pitches, the final one humming in at 97 mph, and eliciting a roar from a good portion of the 35,849 fans who came decked out in Mets garb.

"It was a tough loss in a great game," Coste said. "It would have been an awesome game to win."