NEW YORK (AP) – Tom Glavine tossed another gem, Carlos Beltran rocked Shea Stadium with a homer that crashed off the scoreboard, and the New York Mets jumped in front of St. Louis in the NL championship series.

Glavine shut down Albert Pujols and extended his postseason shutout streak to 13 innings, pitching the Mets to a 2-0 victory over the Cardinals in Game 1 on Thursday night.

Beltran, who wore out St. Louis in the NLCS with Houston two years ago, hit a two-run shot off an otherwise impressive Jeff Weaver in the sixth. That was all the offense New York needed to win its eighth straight game, dating to the regular season.

After rain postponed the opener Wednesday night, the Cardinals bumped up ace Chris Carpenter, who will pitch on regular rest Friday night in Game 2. Rookie right-hander John Maine will be on the mound for the Mets.

Missing injured starters Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez, the Mets are counting heavily on Glavine this October as they chase their first World Series title in 20 years.

The 40-year-old left-hander, sharp and deceptive as ever, has delivered in a big way.

He threw six scoreless innings in Game 2 of the first round, helping the Mets to a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. And the two-time Cy Young Award winner, who waited four seasons to reach the playoffs with New York after doing so year after year in Atlanta, was just as good against St. Louis.

Helped by two inning-ending double plays and a sprawling catch by super sub Endy Chavez, Glavine yielded only four hits and two walks.

He struck out Pujols in the first, walked him in the fourth and retired him on a liner to shortstop in the sixth.

Guillermo Mota worked a hitless eighth to avoid facing Pujols, and Billy Wagner got three outs for his third save of the playoffs. Pujols, the reigning NL MVP, lined out to first leading off the ninth against Wagner.

After two nifty defensive plays by the Mets to start the ninth, Wagner walked Scott Rolen, who is 1-for-14 this postseason, and retired pinch-hitter Scott Spiezio on a popup to end it.

It was Glavine’s 34th postseason start, matching Andy Pettitte for the most in major league history. Glavine also improved to 14-15 in the postseason, tying Pettitte for the second-most wins behind former Braves teammate John Smoltz (15).

Weaver, cast off by the Los Angeles Angels in July, was nearly as good. He cruised through 5 2-3 innings, blanking the Mets’ menacing lineup on one harmless single.

But Paul Lo Duca bounced a hit through the left side in the sixth, and Beltran drove a 2-2 fastball an estimated 430 feet off the giant scoreboard in right-center – the ball clanging off Jose Valentin’s No. 18 in New York’s lineup.

That woke up a curiously quiet crowd of 56,311 at Shea, which was plenty noisy during two home games in the division series, and left them chanting “Wea-ver! Wea-ver!”

The right-hander knows all about tough crowds in New York after an unsuccessful stint with the Yankees from 2002-03, when he was often booed lustily in the Bronx. Weaver, lifted in the sixth after 98 pitches, is scheduled to come back on only three days’ rest in Game 5 – as is Glavine, who threw 89 pitches.

The Cardinals have seen all too much of Beltran in October. He batted .417 with four homers and five RBIs for the Astros in the 2004 NLCS, a series St. Louis won in seven games.

The Mets lost left fielder Cliff Floyd early when he aggravated his injured Achilles’ tendon. He is day-to-day.

AP-ES-10-12-06 2316EDT

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