by By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ, HOUSTON CHRONICLE , The Houston Chronicle

Record: 74-85.

Today: At New York Mets, 6:10 p.m.

Pitchers: W. Rodriguez (14-11) vs. J. Maine (6-6).

TV/radio: FSH; 740 AM and 1010 AM (Spanish).

PHILADELPHIA - With the National League East title already secured, the Philadelphia Phillies rested some of their stars Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park. The Astros also sat their top run producer, Carlos Lee, but Miguel Tejada stepped into the No. 3 spot in the lineup and led the way with Lance Berkman producing as well from Lee's cleanup spot.

Interim manager Dave Clark tweaked the Astros' lineup a bit, and Tejada continued his assault while helping Felipe Paulino beat the Phillies 5-3.

"With Carlos out of the lineup tonight, that was our best option," Clark said after Lee sat out with a sore right wrist. "Miguel has hit third a few times this year, and it gave us a chance to get Jason Michaels in the game, and he swung the bat well."

Now, the Astros head to Citi Field for their season-ending three-game series against the New York Mets with Tejada four hits shy of 200 for the season.

"Right now I think what I try to do is not try to get 200," Tejada said after going 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and an RBI single. "Just try to enjoy the game as much as I can"

Paulino, who hopes to fight for a spot in the rotation next spring, gave a solid impression in his final start of the season by holding the Phillies to one run on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts over five innings.

"We've always said all along this kid is a work in progress," Clark said. "He's definitely a power arm. We just got to get him more consistent and make him more a pitcher than a thrower and he'll get better. He's got the stuff to definitely (have) the chance to be a No. 2 or No. 3 starter here in the big leagues."

Mixing his pitches well

The hard-throwing Paulino (3-11) had not won since June 27, suffering seven consecutive defeats before ending his season on a positive note.

"I'm improving my curve-ball and my consistency," Paulino said. "I'm a power pitcher with a hard fastball and a hard slider, but in the majors they can sit on those pitches if you don't locate or mix in other pitches.

"Today I mixed in my changeup and curveball, so I had two hard pitches and two soft pitches. This helps me build confidence for next year."

Jeff Fulchino, Wesley Wright and LaTroy Hawkins each added a scoreless inning of relief before the Phillies made it interesting in the ninth inning.

Berkman comes through

Brought in to protect a 5-1 lead in the ninth, Jose Valverde gave up two runs on Pedro Feliz's two-out double to right field. Andy Tracy followed with a single to right, putting runners at the corners.

Valverde finally sealed the victory by inducing Miguel Cairo's fly out to center.

Lefthander Cliff Lee, who is likely to be the Phillies' Game 1 starter in the Division Series, gave up seven hits and four runs (three earned) with one walk and six strikeouts over 52/3 innings.

The Astros jumped on Cliff Lee (7-4) in the first. After Kaz Matsui hit a one-out single to center, Tejada reached on catcher's interference. Berkman followed with a two-run double to right-center, giving the Astros a 2-0 lead.

The Phillies finally got to Paulino in the fifth before a crowd of 44,905.

Raul Ibanez's bases-loaded infield single into the hole at short cut the Astros' lead to 2-1.

Tejada countered in the sixth with a two-run homer to left, extending his hitting streak to 18 games. He added an RBI single up the middle in the seventh inning. Afterward, Tejada focused on Paulino.

"Much better," Tejada said of Paulino. "He showed today how good he can be in the future for this team. I think he's going to be learning how to pitch. By the power that he has in his arm, I think he just needs to learn how to pitch ... in the big leagues. I think that kid is going to be like (Justin) Verlander or (Zach) Greinke later on in his career."

jesus.ortiz@chron.com

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