Posted: Fri July 16, 1999 at 11:54 p.m. EDT

NY METS 9, TAMPA BAY 7

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Tampa Bay Devil Rays catcher John Flaherty paid Rickey Henderson the ultimate compliment. After finally throwing him out trying to steal in the seventh inning, Flaherty asked for the ball.

Henderson bedeviled Flaherty and Tampa Bay by going 3-for-3 with two walks, three steals, three runs scored and an RBI as the New York Mets held on for a 9-7 victory, their seventh in 10 games.

"Henderson has gotten in my head over the years, and I've let him know that. And it seems to have gotten worse," Flaherty said. "He tells me all the time he's going to steal on me, and he does. So tonight, I finally got the monkey off my back. It's the ultimate feeling to throw out the greatest base-stealer of all-time."

New York's other speedster, Roger Cedeno, added two hits, his major league-leading 49th and 50th stolen bases and two runs scored. The Mets banged out 15 hits in support of Rick Reed (7-3), who won his fourth straight decision despite six shaky innings.

Jason Isringhausen nearly nailed down his second save, but Dennis Cook came on and struck out Flaherty as the tying run for his second save in as many chances.

Henderson started the game with a walk and stole second but was stranded.

He drew another leadoff walk in the third and scored on John Olerud's single to give New York a 1-0 lead.

The Mets got three runs in the third but the Devil Rays tied it in their half of the inning.

Cedeno and Henderson delivered two-out singles in the fourth, worked a double-steal and scored on Edgardo Alfonzo's single that chased starter Bobby Witt and gave New York a 5-3 lead.

Again, Tampa Bay tied it, but Cedeno and Henderson were in the thick of a two-run sixth that put the Mets ahead for good. Cedeno walked with one out, stole second and scored on Henderson's single to make it 6-5. After Alfonzo flied out, rookie Mike Duvall replaced Dave Eiland (1-5) and Henderson stole second. Olerud walked before Rick White relieved and surrendered Mike Piazza's RBI single.

Henderson singled again in the seventh before Flaherty finally threw him out on his fourth stolen-base attempt. Henderson is hitting .444 (20-for-45) in his last 13 games and tonight was his fourth three-hit contest in that stretch.

Henderson's last three-steal game was on September 7, 1997, when he was with Anaheim.

"There is no contest between Roger and I. I just try and create things. It's part of my game plan," Henderson said. "We do work well together, and he says I am his idol. He sort of reminds me of (Kenny) Lofton, and I've always wanted to play with a guy like him. He can be great and I am here to help him. I'm pushing him to take the stolen-base crown this year."

Reed twice failed to protect leads but remained unbeaten since June 4. He allowed five runs and eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

"Reed struggled tonight. He did not have good mechanics. He did not quite have that methodical delivery," said Mets manager Bobby Valentine.

"Something seems to be a little bit off. The pitching coaches will have to work it out with him."

Former Mets farmhand Terrell Lowery tripled, doubled and scored twice for Tampa Bay in his first game since being recalled from Triple-A Durham.

But the Devil Rays suffered their third straight loss.

"When you look at stolen bases, the biggest thing is keeping them off the base. That is where we have not done a good job," Tampa Bay manager Larry Rothschild said. "They get on base, they will have a chance to steal bases. When you have baserunners like (Cedeno and Henderson), they are going to run. That is part of their game. And no question, we knew coming in they were going to run."

Piazza followed Olerud's RBI single in the third with a run-scoring base hit and Olerud scored on a wild pitch to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.

Lowery led off the bottom half with a triple and scored on Miguel Cairo's infield hit to get Tampa Bay on the board. Wade Boggs doubled home Cairo for his 2,983rd c, his fourth. It proved crucial when Tampa Bay scored twice in the ninth.

Isringhausen breezed through two innings before yielding a leadoff double to Lowery, who moved up on a wild pitch. Cairo struck out but Boggs walked and another wild pitch scored Lowery. Perry also fanned before Fred McGriff singled and a passed ball plated Boggs.

Cook came on and struck out Flaherty.

"Izzy was fabulous, and I thought he could get McGriff out. But it did not turn out that way. I'm not worried about Izzy, Izzy will be fine," Valentine said.

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