PHILADELPHIA -- Closer Brett Myers barely got off the mound when catcher Carlos Ruiz landed a hard, awkward medium-five, quite high for Ruiz, given his height. Streaks of white towels brightened the night and roars from a near sellout crowd deafened the celebratory music.

Eventually, Citizens Bank Park's powerful speakers took over, and blared a song fitting of Philadelphia's 6-4 win over Atlanta and symbolic of the team's incredible journey:

"Don't Stop Believin'."

"I don't feel pain when you have that much adrenaline," Myers said. "There's nothing that can replace that feeling. He could've kicked me and I wouldn't have felt it. Hopefully, they'll give out more rally towels [Friday] night, because I saw a bunch of them getting thrown on the field."

The Phillies have vaulted into first place in the National League East, square with the Mets. A 162-game season has been reduced to which team has the better weekend.

"That's crazy," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. "You'd like it to be easier, but it wouldn't be as fun if was that way. Hopefully, we're getting started to new territory. A lot of us haven't been to the top. We're at zero, and no one wins at zero. We still have work to do. We'll see."

"It's got to be like that, right?" Chase Utley said. "That's what makes it exciting. That's what you train in the off-season for. You come to spring training with your goal to be in this situation at the end of the year."

Any early tension that came with facing future Hall of Famer John Smoltz evaporated with a four-run first that began with a Rollins single. Shane Victorino bunted toward Smoltz, who threw the ball into right field for an error. Rollins scored, and Victorino ended up on third.

"When I saw Jimmy get on, I thought I might as well try," Victorino said. "I haven't had too much success against him. Jumping out like that, and him trying to make a play and things going like they did, and him thinking, 'What just happened?' That had something to do with how the game went."

Mark Teixeira then booted Utley's grounder for the second run, and Ryan Howard sliced a homer to right for a 4-0 lead.

By the second inning, when the out-of-town scoreboard first flashed that the Mets were losing, the crowd of 40,589 prepared to party. When Pat Burrell delivered a two-run homer to left field in the third, creating a 6-0 lead, and the scoreboard showed a widening deficit at Shea Stadium, the fans' mood turned into relaxed celebration.

Now the teams share first place.

"I would've never thought this would happen," Victorino said. "Never would it have crossed my mind. But we stayed positive, fought through adversity, and come a long way, but we'll still not where we want to be. It hasn't dawned on me that we're tied. It's weird. It still feels like we're chasing."

The Mets hogged that spot long enough -- since May 16, or 138 days -- and held a season-high seven-game lead as recently as Sept. 12, or 15 days ago. That's no longer the case. An 11-3 jaunt by the Phillies and the Mets' 4-10 slide gave the teams identical records heading into the final three games.

Crazy?

"I hope it gets crazier," manager Charlie Manuel said. "We've played hard and fought all year. The Mets started going bad and we kept chipping away. Now we're even with them. The job's not done yet. We have to win. [Friday] is even bigger."

Unflappable rookie Kyle Kendrick, seemingly unaware of the game's magnitude, breezed through the first five innings, allowing three hits. He tired in the sixth, when the Braves scored three runs on two home runs. No matter. Tom Gordon, J.C. Romero and Myers finished.

Kendrick earned his 10th win of the season, to lead all NL rookies, and improved to 7-1 in 11 starts at Citizens Bank Park.

Some rookie.

"I feel like I'm sending out a kid, but he does a man's job," Manuel said. "He keeps his poise good."

And yes, Kendrick knew it was a big game.

"You could feel it in the park. I liked it," he said. "It was fun, but [Friday] is even more intense."

At 9:34 p.m. ET, as Myers made his final warmup toss, the huge scoreboard in left field showed Cardinals right fielder Ryan Ludwick recording the final out at Shea Stadium, then a banner that read, "We want the East!"

"The fans kept us posted," Victorino said. "We just listened to them."

Myers quickly surrendered a solo homer to Jeff Francoeur, then ended the two-hour, 34-minute game.

"[There was] a feeling of knowing that our fate is in our hands," Howard said. "The crowd was electric. When the Cardinals scored, they went crazy. When Brett got the final out, it was relief. We have the opportunity to take advantage of this. We need to."

Now, it's best two out of three with the Mets, with the Wild Card still a possibility for the loser.

"We've caught up to them, but it's like the start of the season all over again," Howard said. "Both teams are dead even, and there's three games left. Now, it's kicking in. We found a way to keep chipping away."

Said Aaron Rowand: "We're not ready to go home quite yet."