ST. LOUIS — For the Mets, a season-opening victory against the Cardinals wasn't about to make up for last October's NLCS loss to St. Louis.

It was, however, a good place for New York to start.

Tom Glavine earned his 291st win, Paul Lo Duca and Carlos Delgado knocked in five runs, and Carlos Beltran contributed with his bat and arm in a 6-1 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday night.

"To get the season going there was a lot of anxiety," Lo Duca said. "We came ready to play. We made some great defensive plays and Tommy G went out there like riding a bicycle."

Beltran, who took a called third strike from Adam Wainwright with the bases loaded to end Game 7 of the NLCS, capped a three-run fourth with an RBI single that made it 5-0. Beltran's most important contribution came in the field, throwing out David Eckstein trying to score from second on Preston Wilson's sharp single to center to neutralize the Cardinals' best threat in the sixth.

"That's a game-changing play, Beltran's play," Lo Duca said.

The Cardinals raised their World Series flag in an hour-long pre-game ceremony that featured Hall of Famers Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Red Schoendienst.