Glavine guides Mets

NEW YORK – The New York Mets’ postseason pitching rotation suffered two major blows when veteran right-handers Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez were lost with injuries.

But starting a playoff series with Tom Glavine on the mound isn’t exactly slumming.

Extending his postseason shutout string to 13 innings, Glavine frustrated the St. Louis Cardinals and Carlos Beltran socked a two-run homer to give the Mets a 2-0 victory in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night at Shea Stadium.

Glavine allowed only four hits during his seven-inning stint, outpitching Cardinals right-hander Jeff Weaver as the Mets boosted their record to 4-0 in this postseason. The 40-year-old lefty threw only 89 pitches, a key factor considering he’ll probably come back in Game 5 on short rest, if necessary.

“Tommy was superb tonight,” Mets manager Willie Randolph said. “We’ve been picking each other up all year. Tommy has a lot of postseason experience. You always feel good handing him the ball. He’s always ready. He was the key tonight.”

With Martinez and Hernandez sidelined, winning games pitched by Glavine has become more important for the Mets, who are plugging those holes with rookie John Maine and 13-game loser Oliver Perez.

“I understand the importance of when I’m pitching now,” said Glavine, who threw six shutout innings against Los Angeles in the first round. “But at the same time, I’m trying to mentally play games with myself and dismiss that.

“I don’t want to put any added pressure on myself. I just want to give us a chance to win. So far this postseason, I’ve been able to do that.”

Weaver more than matched Glavine until the bottom of the sixth, when Beltran socked his two-run blast. New York’s predominantly left-handed lineup figured to be tough on Weaver, but he held the Mets in check until Beltran’s ninth career postseason homer.

“Every time I do something in October, it means a lot,” said Beltran, who socked eight home runs for Houston in the 2004 postseason.

“It pains me to put an ‘L’ next to Jeff’s name,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “No way was he a losing pitcher. Jeff was outstanding, but so was Glavine. We couldn’t break through offensively.”

The Cardinals hit several balls on the nose in the early going against Glavine, but usually right at a fielder. Making his record 16th career LCS start, Glavine later kicked it into cruise control before handing the baton to Guillermo Mota and Billy Wagner, who finished the four-hitter.

Glavine was fortunate to escape the third without damage. Ronnie Belliard led off with a liner that third baseman David Wright speared with a lunge to his left.

Yadier Molina singled to right and Weaver followed with another hit, swinging away and foiling the Mets, who were looking for a bunt. David Eckstein followed with another liner that Wright snared, turning it into a double play by catching Molina off second base.

Albert Pujols drew a one-out walk from Glavine in the fourth inning but committed a major base-running gaffe. When Juan Encarnacion lofted a pop fly into shallow center, Pujols thought Beltran would not get to it and moved toward second base. But Beltran did make a running catch and easily doubled off Pujols at first.

“Albert is an outstanding base runner,” La Russa said. “And he almost always mixes in good sense. That was an exception.”

Mets left fielder Cliff Floyd, who was kept on the NLCS roster despite an ailing left Achilles tendon, didn’t last long. In his at-bat in the second, Floyd tweaked the tendon on the first-base bag, running on what turned out to be a foul fly. He was replaced by Endy Chavez in the top of the third.

Mets 2, Cardinals 0

a-struck out for Glavine in the 7th. b-grounded out for Molina in the 8th. c-struck out for Thompson in the 8th. d-popped out for Edmonds in the 9th. LOB—St. Louis 6, New York 7. 2B—CDelgado 2 (2). HR—Beltran (1), off JfWeaver. RBIs—Beltran 2 (2). SB—ShGreen (1). Runners left in scoring position—St. Louis 1 (JfWeaver); New York 4 (JBReyes, Chavez 3). DP—New York 2 (Wright and Valentin), (Beltran and CDelgado).

Inherited runners-scored—TJohnson 2-0, Thompson 1-0. IBB—off JfWeaver (Wright) 1. T—2:52. A—56,311 (57,333).