Glavine, Delgado help Mets avenge Game 7 loss

Mets 6, Cardinals 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Tom Glavine patiently watched the St. Louis Cardinals celebrate the World Series title, a championship the New York Mets could have won themselves.

Then the 41-year-old went out and set a good example for how the Mets might finish the job this season, beating the champions 6-1 in the major league opener on Sunday night.

"There's no question for us as a group that it was a little bit of a disappointment that it wasn't us," Glavine said. "It could have very easily been us, but it wasn't. Maybe it's the kind of thing that you watch and know that when the season is over for us, that's what we want to be doing."

Crasnick: Mets make sweet start
Score one for the NLCS victims. The Mets parlayed some fine pitching by Tom Glavine, exceptional defense and clutch hitting to a 6-1 victory before 45,429 true believers at Busch, writes Jerry Crasnick. Story

Glavine earned his 291st win, and Carlos Delgado put the Mets ahead with an early two-run double off Chris Carpenter.

Paul Lo Duca added three RBIs and made a nifty tag at the plate for the Mets, who lost to St. Louis in Game 7 of last year's NL Championship Series, which ended when Carlos Beltran took a called third strike from Adam Wainwright with the bases loaded in a 3-1 loss. The Cardinals went on to beat Detroit in five games for their first Series title since 1982.

Hall of Famers Stan Musial, Bob Gibson and Lou Brock were on hand for the festivities, which included the traditional appearance of the Budweiser Clydesdales. Cardinals players entered in a motorcade that passed the World Series trophy, located near home plate. Manager Tony La Russa, arrested during spring training on a drunken driving charge -- was greeted warmly by the crowd of 45,429 at Busch Stadium, where every game has been a sellout since the ballpark opened last year.

The Cardinals unveiled flags atop a scoreboard commemorating all 10 World Series titles, along with a huge sign, "World Champions." A large pennant celebrating the 2006 championship was raised just below the American flag above the left-center field stands.

One and done?
The Cards shouldn't worry because winning the opener is not a good indication of what the defending champ will do. The last six champions have alternated wins and losses on Opening Day, but only two have made the playoffs that year.
Year, Team	W-L with	Season result
2006 Cardinals	L, 6-1	?
2005 White Sox	W, 10-4	Third AL Central
2004 Red Sox	L, 9-2	Swept in ALDS
2003 Marlins	W, 4-3	Third NL East
2002 Angels	L, 6-3	Third AL West
2001 D-Backs	W, 2-0	Swept in NLDS

"The day was beautiful, the fans were receptive," La Russa said. "I was overwhelmed."

During the nearly hour-long pregame presentation, many Mets players paid more attention to stretching, outfield sprints and conversations with each other than the festivities on the field.

Mets manager Willie Randolph said he would watch the entire presentation, if only because it showed respect for the Cardinals' accomplishment.

"Why not? It's nice," he said. "That would be assuming again, that I'm somewhat upset that they're world champions. They deserve to be where they are. I'll watch it. There's going to be some of those Cardinal greats out there."

David Wright agreed, saying that the six months since losing the NLCS helped ease any pain.

"Hopefully, we have that in the back of our minds and that gives us that extra motivation," Wright said.

Glavine, counted on to lead the Mets' rotation while Pedro Martinez recovers from shoulder surgery, allowed one run and six hits in six innings before Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith, Aaron Heilman and Billy Wagner finished up.

"I think he's better than ever myself," La Russa said of Glavine. "Guys that do it for years and years and years are amazing."

Carpenter, who topped the major leagues with a 1.81 ERA at home last year, retired his first five batters, then allowed the Mets to go 9-for-15 with a sacrifice and a walk against him the next 2 1/3 innings.

"I felt strong, I just wasn't happy with my location," Carpenter said. "Balls were out over the plate, good, hittable pitches, especially to a lineup like that. You make a mistake, they're going to hit it, and they did."

Delgado's opposite-field, two-run double high off the left-field wall put the Mets ahead in the third, and New York made it 5-0 in the fourth on Lo Duca's two-out single and an RBI single by Beltran. Lo Duca added a run-scoring single in the ninth off Brad Thompson.

After David Eckstein hit an RBI double in the sixth, Beltran threw out Eckstein at the plate on Preston Wilson's sharp single to center. Yadier Molina ended the inning by breaking his bat on an infield popup with the bases loaded. La Russa called it "kind of a foolish throw."

"I don't think you make that throw too often, and he pulled it off," the manager added. "That's the kind of night they had."

The Mets thought otherwise.

"It's the kind of thing you never expect, but when you get it it's a huge momentum swing," Glavine said. "As it turned out, the way the inning progressed, it was a huge play."

Glavine also benefited from Moises Alou's diving catch in shallow left field on Adam Kennedy's flare to start the sixth. Glavine induced two of the Cardinals' four double-play balls.

Game notes
There was a moment of silence to mark the recent deaths of former commissioner Bowie Kuhn, longtime Cardinals general manager Bing Devine and Missouri Sen. Thomas Eagleton. ... The Mets are 29-17 on Opening Day for a .603 winning percentage, best in major league history. ... The Cardinals and Mets opened for the first time since 1996, La Russa's first season in St. Louis. ... Glavine has won three straight Opening Day starts and is 5-3 with a 3.70 ERA in eight openers. ... Carpenter is 2-1 in four opening-day starts. ... Eckstein was 3-for-4 and is 10-for-28 (.357) in seven openers.