Champs open with a loss

~ New York made a statement after losing last year's NLCS to St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS -- 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.

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.

The Cardinals' Yadier Molina shattered his bat in the sixth inning Sunday against the New York Mets. (TOM GANNAM ~ Associated Press)

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.

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.

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

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.