Sports

PHILLIES IN PHIRST

PHILADELPHIA – Jimmy Rollins stood at his locker watching the final outs of the Mets-Marlins game on the TV overhead. Clad in a white jumpsuit and a load of diamond jewelry, he had his left foot on a chair.

His eyes widened as Carlos Beltran’s pop fly drifted into foul territory then dropped softly into Dan Uggla’s glove. Rollins pumped his right fist and shook his head.

There were no words necessary.

Eight months after proclaiming his Phillies the team to beat in the NL East, Rollins and Co. are a victory and a Mets loss away from winning an improbable division crown.

The Phils dispatched Washington 6-0 last night, then watched the Mets lose again to give the Phils a one-game lead in the East.

“It’s a good position to be in – up a game with two to go,” Rollins said. “We’re not playing catch-up anymore.”

A frenzied standing-room-only crowd of 45,084 spent the night celebrating the Phillies’ unbelievable rise to first place, thanks to Cole Hamels’ 13 strikeouts.

They kept one eye on the field and the other on the right-field scoreboard to see what was happening with the Mets in Queens. Each time the Marlins’ lead grew, the cheers picked up. With Oliver Perez holding target practice on the Marlins’ backsides, the Philly crowd briefly began to chant, “Let’s go Marlins!”

In a trick even Houdini would appreciate, Philadelphia’s magic number is now two after trailing by seven games 17 days ago. This morning the Phillies wake up in sole possession of first place for the first time since the second day of the 2005 season with a chance at their first division title since 1993.

“We are the best team in this division,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “The Atlanta Braves have a tremendous hitting team. I know the Mets have quite a bit of talent, but overall, if you look at our team and how we play, I think that we’re very good.”

As the results on the field and in Queens became clear, Citizens Bank Park felt like it was going to lift off the ground. In contrast to the white flag that has been raised at Shea, the fans twirled white towels over their heads as they have all week.

Hamels gave them plenty of reason to cheer and swing their towels. He pitched eight innings, allowing six hits and one walk in his third start since coming off the disabled list.

The crowd ached to explode from the first inning, waiting for the Phillies’ offense to give them a spark. With every long fly ball you could feel the place ready to burst. Then Rollins (who else, Mets fans?) finally delivered a two-run single up the middle in the fifth inning to put them on the board.

“I don’t know what else he can do unless he wants to sell tickets and sell popcorn,” Manuel said of the MVP candidate.

Chase Utley tacked on a run with a double in the inning. A Hamels grounder scored another run in the sixth, then Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer off reliever Arnie Munoz to put the game away.

Rollins caught a ton of grief for proclaiming the Phillies the team to beat in the division last winter. Asked what it felt like to be the team to beat with two games left, Rollins smiled and said, “It feels like spring training.”

brian.costello@nypost.com