NEW YORK — John Maine stopped the Mets' slide with an overpowering performance that pulled them into a first-place tie. He nearly did a whole lot more than that.

Maine flirted with the first no-hitter in team history before allowing an infield single to Paul Hoover with two outs in the eighth inning, and New York snapped out of its September doldrums by routing the Florida Marlins, 13-0, in a fight-filled game yesterday.

"We weren't going to lose today," Maine said.

Maine finished with 14 strikeouts, the most by a Mets pitcher in eight years, and departed to a raucous ovation long after Florida catcher Miguel Olivo charged across the diamond and threw a punch at Jose Reyes in the fifth — setting off a bench-clearing brawl.

Once order was restored, the Mets ended a five-game skid that cost them their NL East lead. Hours later, they moved back into a tie with Philadelphia for first place in the NL East when the Phillies lost 4-2 to Washington.

After squandering a seven-game cushion with 17 to play and falling a game back, New York entered yesterday with a chance to suddenly be eliminated from postseason contention. A loss to Florida and a Phillies win over Washington would have sent the Mets home for the winter.

Instead, Maine (15-10) gave them the dominant outing they've desperately needed for two weeks.

"We needed a stopper and he was our guy," David Wright said.

New York will hope for another big effort from 300-game winner Tom Glavine in the regular-season finale today. The Mets face nemesis Dontrelle Willis (10-15), who is 11-3 with a 2.49 ERA in 18 career starts against them — including 5-0 at Shea Stadium.

A win over Florida and another Philadelphia loss today would give New York consecutive division titles for the first time. If the Mets and Phillies finish tied, they would have a one-game playoff tomorrow in Philadelphia for the NL East crown. Philadelphia beat New York in their final eight meetings this year.

Lastings Milledge homered twice, Ramon Castro also connected and Luis Castillo had three key hits for the Mets, who had lost eight straight home games and 11 of 15 overall — putting them in danger of completing one of baseball's most colossal collapses.

Maine was looking to make his own bit of history for the Mets, born in 1962. He struck out seven straight during one stretch and held Florida hitless into the eighth. With the crowd of 54,675 getting more and more excited, Hoover hit a dribbler up the third-base line that left Wright with no chance to make a play.

"You couldn't have rolled the ball any better," Maine said. "What are you going to do?"

Wright put his arm around Maine on the mound as manager Willie Randolph walked out to lift the right-hander after 115 pitches. Maine took a curtain call before Willie Collazo and Carlos Muniz finished the one-hitter.

Milledge flopped on a clubhouse couch to watch the Phillies' game on television for a while, but most of the Mets scattered, saying they would keep an eye on it with family and friends or get updates via cell phone.

The teams first spilled onto the field when Florida pitcher Harvey Garcia threw behind Castillo in the fifth. Holding the bat in his hand, Castillo walked toward the mound with his arms spread wide. Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson was incensed, pointing angrily toward Marlins coaches as the benches and bullpens emptied.

"That's irresponsible. That's not how you play the game," Peterson said.