NEW YORK -- Talk of Mike Piazza's decline is a bit premature as far as his manager is concerned.

Piazza hit a two-run homer to move into a tie with Johnny Bench on the career home run list Wednesday night in the New York Mets' 7-3 victory over the San Diego Padres.

"I don't get too wrapped up in his demise or whatever," Willie Randolph said. "Great players always seem to know how to respond.

"Mike can still hit and he's still clutch in many ways," Randolph added.

Piazza has enjoyed a mini-emergence from his hitting woes since being dropped to sixth in the order for the first time since May 1993 on Tuesday night. He had an RBI double in the third inning to go with his homer off Woody Williams (5-6) in the fifth and is 4-for-7 in the two games. He went 2-for-4 Tuesday.

The 12-time All-Star has become more accepting of his capabilities, knowing that he is likely not going to approach his career .315 average any longer or hit 30 homers again -- he hasn't hit .300 since 2001 or hit 30 homers since 2002.

"It's what it is. I've caught a lot of games, just physically it's not as easy," said Piazza, who is batting .259. "I just try to keep everything in perspective.

"I'm just trying to enjoy it as well. I don't know what's going to happen."

Carlos Beltran also hit a two-run homer and Tom Glavine (7-7) won his third consecutive decision with six solid innings as the Mets won their second straight over the NL West leaders and moved two games over .500 (48-46) for the first time since June 11, when they were 32-30.

Piazza's homer into the left field bleachers was his 389th, tying him with Bench, the former Cincinnati Reds catcher, for 46th all-time, one behind Graig Nettles. It was Piazza's 367th as a catcher, most for the position.

"It means a lot as far as him being the rule by which any catcher's judged," Piazza said. "It's a real honor."

The Shea Stadium crowd gave Piazza his second curtain call in a week, but Piazza at first didn't realize that the fans were cheering for him.

"I said, 'Is that for me?' It's nice," said Piazza, who also was feted by the fans last Thursday for his three-run homer against the Braves in the eighth inning.

Beltran gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in the first with his 11th homer -- second this season when a starter other than Pedro Martinez was on the mound.

Glavine was the beneficiary this time and he made the lead stand up, pitching neatly into the fourth inning, where he temporarily lost his rhythm.

After getting seven groundball outs and a strikeout through three innings, Glavine missed on the corners and worked deep into counts in the fourth as the Padres scored twice to make it 4-2 on Xavier Nady's RBI single and Ramon Hernandez's sacrifice fly, both with the bases loaded.

"The luxury of having a lead, you just try to keep the damage to a minimum," Glavine said. "Things went pretty smoothly and the guys bounced back and picked me up."

Glavine allowed two runs and six hits in six innings and now has given up three runs or fewer in his last five starts. The win was the 269th of his career, moving him past Jim Palmer on the career list.

He said that his recent success is the product of the incorporation of a curveball into his game plan, a pitch he had been working on since just before the All-Star break.

After the game, Glavine expressed his desire to remain with the Mets but said there was a "real short list" of teams he would consider accepting a trade to -- he has a no-trade clause in his contract.

"I want to stay, but I'm not going to shut the door on anything either," he said.

Jose Reyes doubled in a run in the second with a liner down the left-field line, and New York appeared to have scored a second run on a balk call by home plate umpire Chuck Meriwether with Reyes on third.

But Padres manager Bruce Bochy protested and Meriwether conferred with third base umpire Tim Timmons and reversed it.

Bochy told Meriwether that Williams stepped off the pitching rubber and threw home because Reyes made a move toward the plate. Bochy said he asked the Meriwether to check with Timmons, and Timmons said Williams did.

"Reyes looked like he was going," Williams said.

Randolph said: "I guess maybe that was a tough play for Chuck; it happened pretty quick."

Reyes, already in the Mets dugout, had to retrieve his helmet and return to third base. Mike Cameron then struck out to end the inning.

The Mets went up 4-0 in the third on Piazza's RBI double over the head of center fielder Nady after David Wright singled.

Nady had trouble again in the fifth when he waved off right fielder Brian Giles on Cameron's fly, only to see it go over his head. Cameron got a triple and scored on Cliff Floyd's single before Piazza homered to make it 7-2.

"We lost the ball in the twilight there, and that led to a big inning for them," Bochy said.

Williams allowed seven runs and 10 hits in six innings. He struck out four without walking a batter.

Notes

Glavine moved into 43rd place on the all-time strikeouts list with 2,296, passing former Mets ace Dwight Gooden (2,293). ... Reyes stole two bases and now has 30. ... Clay Hensley made his big league debut, pitching two scoreless innings. His contract was purchased from Triple-A Portland on Monday.