The reinvention of Sean Manaea started with a haircut in spring training. Then, he dropped his arm slot over the summer and became dominant. The culmination of his reinvention is unfolding at the right time. Manaea carved up the Philadelphia Phillies lineup Tuesday night in the Mets’ 7-2 win in Game 3 of the NLDS. The Subway-riding, chess-playing, world-traveling hurler was ultra-efficient, limiting the Phillies to only three hits over seven shutout innings, before he was charged with a run in the eighth. Phil Maton came in for Manaea with one on and none out in the eighth and allowed an inherited runner to score before giving up a run of his own. But by the eighth, the game was nearly out of reach for the Phillies, with the Mets holding a 6-0 lead. It was the deepest Manaea had ever gone into a postseason game and it was easily the playoff performance of his career. “I haven’t had the most amazing career,” Manaea said, referring to the 10.66 playoff ERA he came into the game with. “But through the ups and downs, and through the hardships, that’s what makes games like this mean so much.” The key moment for Manaea came in the sixth inning with the Mets up 2-0. Facing the top of the order, he walked leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to bring up Bryce Harper. This tactic didn’t work out well for the Mets in Game 2, when right-hander Tylor Megill walked Schwarber and Turner in the bottom of the ninth, only to be burned by Nick Castellanos behind them in a 7-6 loss at Citizens Bank Park. Manager Carlos Mendoza thought about going to the bullpen, and he could have, with a right-hander hot. But he saw something in Manaea’s demeanor and left him in to face Harper. “I thought [Manaea] had the momentum,” Mendoza said. “I always like his presence, especially today.” Manaea got Harper to swing through three straight pitches, a changeup and two sweepers. Castellanos then lined into a 4-6 double play, with Schwarber caught off guard and off the bag. Reed Garrett sat back down in the bullpen. “After he got Harper man, I just, I was like, ‘This is his game,'” Mendoza said. “Little bit of cushion there with two runs, but I thought the key overall today was attacking the hitters and staying on the attack. And what an amazing job for him today.” The Mets then added more runs in the bottom of the inning and chased righty Aaron Nola from the game, giving Manaea even more room to breathe in the seventh. Pete Alonso and Jesse Winker each homered off Nola to put the Mets on top 2-0. Starling Marte drove in two huge runs in the sixth and Jose Iglesias did the same in the seventh. Alonso hit an opposite-field home run off Nola to lead off the second inning and Winker hit a towering shot to right field off Nola in the fourth. Nola missed badly with a fastball, leaving it belt-high over the heart of the plate and Winker not only made him pay, but then enraged the entire city of Philadelphia when he watched the ball reach the second deck and flipped his bat out of the box. “Hitting a pull-side pump like that in the playoffs, I mean, yeah, he deserves to stand there like that,” Alonso said. “The crowd just absolutely went bonkers.” The Mets loaded the bases on Nola in the bottom of the sixth with no outs and brought in right-hander Orion Kerkering to face Iglesias. He nearly drove in a run with a chopper to second base, but Edmundo Sosa made the out at home. Iglesias again came up with the bases loaded in the seventh to face a new pitcher, this time with two outs against right-hander Jose Ruiz. A single up the middle scored two. “When you put the ball in play, good things happen,” Iglesias said. “It showed for Marte [in the sixth], and right there for me.” Manaea came back out for the eighth, but faced only one hitter. His final line was one earned run on three hits, with two walks and six strikeouts. The last time Manaea faced the Phillies in the postseason was two years ago in the NLCS with the San Diego Padres. The Friars hadn’t used him in the Wild Card round or the Division Series, but they put him on the NLCS roster and brought him into Game 4 down 6-2, hoping he would give them a chance to come back. Manaea gave up a home run to Rhys Hoskins instead. He went on to give up five earned runs, hitting “rock bottom” and reaching out to Driveline that night. So maybe that was truly when the reinvention started. However, Manaea is constantly tinkering, adjusting and learning more about pitching to help him get hitters out. Really, he’s constantly reinventing himself. “To be as low as I was there, and to be here now, it’s just such an incredible feeling to be able to persevere through all that,” Manaea said. “And I’m just super proud of myself.” The fans saluted him with a well-deserved ovation as he exited the field.