With Tom Glavine’s brilliant pitching performance, the Mets needed only one swing to win Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Glavine and two relievers combined on a four-hit shutout and Carlos Beltran provided the offense as the Mets won by score of 2-0. Beltran crushed a long two-run home run in the sixth inning off starter Jeff Weaver to knock in the game's only runs. Weaver had been cruising up to that point, allowing only one hit before Paul Lo Duca's two-out single set the stage for Beltran. Glavine allowed four hits in seven innings for the win. Guillermo Mota pitched a scoreless eighth, and Billy Wagner got the final three outs for the save. The Mets have won their last 11 playoff games in which they put the first run on the board.

Super sub So Taguchi saved St. Louis on a night when Mets closer Billy Wagner faltered, allowing the Cardinals to head home with a split in the NL Championship Series. Taguchi hit a tiebreaking homer off Wagner leading off a three-run ninth inning and lifting St. Louis to a 9-6 victory that tied the NLCS at one game apiece. Cardinals’ pitcher Chris Carpenter struggled early, but the Cardinals tied the game after trailing 3-0 and 4-2, and then came back again in the seventh after falling behind 6-4. Carlos Delgado drove in four runs with a three-run homer and a solo shot off Carpenter, but Mets pitcher John Maine lasted just four innings. Maine gave up only two hits but each drove in two runs. He walked five and threw 92 pitches--three more than Tom Glavine needed to get through seven shutout innings the night before.

Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan hit a home run and pitched a three-hitter for eight shutout innings, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 win over the New York Mets in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. Scott Spiezio hit a two-run triple in the first inning, and Suppan homered to open a three-run second inning for St. Louis. New York lost yet another pitcher to injury when an ineffective Steve Trachsel was hit by Preston Wilson's comebacker and left the game after only one inning. On offense, the Mets' normally imposing lineup barely threatened against Suppan, who allowed three hits in eight crisp innings and homered against Trachsel for the second time in two years.

Carlos Delgado homered and drove in five runs to lead the New York Mets to a 12-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, tying the National League Championship series at two games each. Carlos Beltran hit two homers and David Wright also had a home run for the Mets. The Mets broke a 2-2 tie with nine runs over the fifth and sixth innings against a St. Louis bullpen that had given up just run one in the postseason. Mets pitcher Oliver Perez allowed five runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings for the win. Perez, who had a 3-13 record with a 6.55 earned run average during the regular season, was pitching after the Mets lost starters Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez for the series with injuries. David Eckstein, Jim Edmonds and Yadier Molina homered for St. Louis.

Albert Pujols hit a rally-starting home run and Jeff Weaver pitched six strong innings to lead the Cardinals to a 4-2 victory and a 3-2 series lead over the Mets. Ronnie Belliard and Preston Wilson also drove in runs for the Cardinals and pinch-hitter Chris Duncan added an insurance run with a solo homer. Tom Glavine lasted only four innings for the Mets. Unable to duplicate his Game 1 masterpiece, he allowed three runs on seven hits. Pujols’ fourth inning homer snapped Glavine’s 22 scoreless innings streak, dating back to his final regular season start against Washington. Jose Valentin’s two-run double provided the only offense for the Mets.

John Maine appeared anything but a rookie in Game 6 as he pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings to lead the New York Mets past the St. Louis Cardinals (4-2) to force a decisive Game 7. Jose Reyes sparked the offense leading off the game with a home run and finishing with three hits and two stolen bases. Shawn Green added to the lead with a fourth-inning RBI single and Paul Lo Duca gave the crowd of 56,334 another reason to cheer with a two-run, two-out single in the seventh to give the Mets a 4-0 advantage. Since 1975, home teams that have won Game 6 to tie a postseason series have won 11 straight Game 7’s. For the series finale, the Mets will send Oliver Perez to the mound to face Jeff Suppan of the Cardinals.

Nearly three weeks into the postseason, a playoff series finally lived up to the hype, going a full seven games with a ninth inning decision. Starting pitchers Jeff Suppan of the St. Louis Cardinals and Oliver Perez of the New York Mets both turned in postseason-caliber performances. Light-hitting Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, a .216 hitter in the regular season, broke up the 1-1 tie when he slammed a two-run homer off the New York Mets' Aaron Heilman in the ninth inning to put the Cardinals up 3-1.

The Mets had ample chances to tie, or even regain, the lead in the bottom of the ninth. Their first two hitters, Jose Valentin and Endy Chavez, singled off Cardinals closer Adam Wainwright. Wainwright recovered to strike out pinch hitter Cliff Floyd and induce a line-out to center field by Jose Reyes, but proceeded to walk Paul Lo Duca. Carlos Beltran stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded only to watch strike three cross the plate, sending the majority of the 56,357 fans at Shea Stadium home disappointed.

The score would not have been tied entering the ninth if not for a tremendous play by Chavez. With one on and one out in the sixth, Scott Rolen smashed a pitch but Chavez leaped up and stuck out his right arm, catching the would-be home run two feet above the wall. Chavez came down with the ball and relayed it in time for first baseman Carlos Delgado to catch Jim Edmonds off base for out No. 3. The Mets' lone run came when David Wright singled home a run in the first inning.