Carlos Beltran hit a two-out, two run home run in the sixth inning, plus Tom Glavine, Guillermo Moto and Billy Wagner combined for a four-hit shutout of the St. Louis Cardinals to take a 1-0 NLCS lead in the best of seven series.
The Mets flashed some leather and made some fine defensive plays in the field, particularly Endy Chavez subbing in for the ailing Cliff Floyd, who appeared to reaggravate his sore achilles tendon in the second inning. In the fifth inning, after a Jim Edmonds single, Chavez made a spectacular diving catch of a Rafael Belliard blast; surely the sore-footed Floyd would not have been able to cover the ground needed to make the catch.
The Mets also turned a couple of double plays, the first of which came in the third with Yadier Molina being picked off of second after David Eckstein's rocket went straight to Mets thirdbaseman David Wright, who was easily able to make the double at second. An inning later, Albert Pujols drew a walk, but Carlos Beltran made a terrific read on a fly ball from Juan Encarnacion, and was aided by a blunder from Pujols, who had wandered too close to second base in time to avoid being thrown out.
Jeff Weaver pitched a very fine game, really only making one mistake, that being Beltran's homer in the sixth. Brad Thompson and Braden Looper also did a good job in finishing up the game, but they could not provide any offense whatsover to aid the pitchers in their effort.
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