Daily News from New York, New York • 47

"3 Nomar has smashing debut for Red Sox Chrehet eyas: Super run Rich Cimini, Page 58 Details, Page 52 GM holds phone on trade talk UNDA CATAFFO DAILY NEWS Mets GM Steve Phillips said he is still trying to add players who can help this season, but there is a good chance the Mets will have to wait until the winter to reconstruct themselves. Several sources around baseball said yesterday that the Mets are still talking to other clubs about Glendon Rusch, Rick Reed and Rey Ordonez, but that a major deal seemed unlikely by tomorrow's 4 p.m. deadline. Phillips said essentially the same thing before yesterday's game, repeating that he does not foresee a "blockbuster" trade. "I'll still consider anything," he said.

"Blockbuster," by his definition, would include anything involving Reed or Ordonez. The Mets have been hopeful about finding a place for Ordonez, but are running out of suitors. The Pirates were involved but those talks have been abandoned. The Diamondbacks and Dodgers have shown interest, but thus far have been unwilling to meet the Mets' price, especially considering that Ordonez will make $12.5 million over the next two seasons and the Mets don't want to pay any of it. Several teams, including the Giants and Twins, have inquired about Reed, but sources said the Mets are not shopping their No.

3 starter and have only been "intrigued" by proposals. If the Mets were to move Reed, team sources said, it would only be in a deal that brought them a front-line starter. Such a deal would probably involve at least two other teams. Rusch is still more likely to be traded, though sources said yesterday the Mets still have not heard a proposal to their liking. Phillips said that even if he is able to pull off a significant trade, there is no way he can make the moves he would like to get the team ready for next season.

"There is a zero percent chance that there are enough things we could do today," he said. What it all means is that while the Mets may still make a move by tomorrow, the team they fielded yesterday is largely the same one they will finish the season with. Quinn Desl Relaford catches enough of Phillies' Jimmy Rollins to scuttle DP and allow Mets to score go-ahead run. soft op bog Etosft By IJ. QUINN DAIiy NEWS SPORTS WRITER There was one player who had the Mets clubhouse glowing yesterday, and it wasn't Mike Piazza.

first pitch he saw a breaking ball from Jose Santiago. The collision of bat and ball sounded like something from Piazza, that noted percussionist. And though the ball was more high than far, it left the park and gave the Mets a 5-4 lead. Yesterday, however, it did not. After sliding hard into Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins in the "I thought I was allowed to hit a home run in that situation," Shinjo said through his translator.

When asked seventh, allowing Lenny Harris to score a go-ahead run and saving Piazza from grounding into a double play, Relaford left the METS 6 PHILLIES 5 was the player they abandoned last year who beat them. "There's a finality to what Mike does, but the things Desi does get you the chance to win that game," Robin Ventura said. "He was fantastic." Relaford was also a role model of sorts. The Mets know how far they are from the postseason, and they give at least lip service to the idea that they can make it. But they know they will all have to play like Relaford, not wait for blasts like Piazza's, if they have any hope of getting there.

Relaford also ran down a Kevin Jordan flare to right in the sixth with the bases loaded to end the inning, and in the ninth he single-handedly turned a double play to end a threat and keep the game tied. "He did absolutely everything," said Joe McEwing, who may have appreciated Relaford's efforts more than anyone on the field. "If he played a better game in his life. I don't know. Today was unbelievable." Mets notebook, Page 52 Piazza hit the scorching home run in the bottom of the ninth that gave the Mets a 6-5 victory at Shea, and yes, the Mets do love their resident hero.

But the man who made their professional hearts beat more quickly was Desi Relaford, who gave Edgardo Alfonzo a day off at second base and did the work of five players. Relaford made two outstanding defensive plays that saved at least two runs, scored from first on a double, hit a crucial single in the seventh inning to move a runner to third and then broke up a double play to make sure the run scored. None of it will earn him a $100 million contract. Every bit of it was needed to win. "I think (breaking up) the double play was my favorite," Relaford said, practically blushing as he stood next to his locker.

"That's a little part of the game that goes unnoticed." field to a standing ovation from the fans around the Mets dugout. "That was awesome," he said. The run gave the Mets a 3-2 lead and left Kevin Appier, who gave up two runs in seven innings, in position to win. In the eighth, though, John Franco gave up a two-run home run to Scott Rolen and the Phillies had the lead. Tsuyoshi Shinjo, who had seen breaking pitches from the Phillies' Nelson Figueroa all day, came to plate in the eighth with one on and took a hack at the who had given him the green light, so to speak, Shinjo said, "I decided myself." That effort was wasted, though, when Armando Benitez allowed the Phillies to tie the game in the ninth, ending a franchise record run of 24 consecutive saves this season.

Shinjo and Piazza might have sent the crowd into a frenzy, but in a one-run game that gave the Mets a 3-1 series win, no single player did as much as Relaford. The Phillies snapped up three Mets in recent days in their effort to win the division, but it.