Fun watching the exploding scoreboard

ST. LOUIS -- I'm kinda neutral in all this, but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the top half of the sixth inning at Busch Stadium last night. On a 1 to 10 scale of baseball entertainment, it was about a 9.

Seven men batted before a Cardinal pitcher could get anyone out.

Which means that . . . the first six men who came to bat reached base and scored.

Three men batted with the bases loaded and nobody out.

Oliver Perez was called out on strikes while sitting on his rear end.

And just to remind us where we are and who he will be until the last day he wears a big league uniform, Jim Edmonds made one of his ridiculously routine over-the-shoulder, run-into-the-fence catches to take a triple -- the way he runs, maybe even an inside-the park-homer -- from Jose Reyes for the final out of the inning.

So we had six runs, five hits, and one standing ovation as the battered home team returned to the dugout.

Tell me you saw an inning like that in Fenway this year.

Now, where were we? Oh, yes, Game 4 of the 2006 National League Championship Series, otherwise known as The Mets Come To Life.

This was the Mets team its fans had come to know and love this season. They came. They saw. They slugged. And they won, 12-5, evening the series at two games apiece. Tom Glavine, New York's only remotely playoff-worthy starting pitcher (stop with the Steve Trachsel nonsense, please), will take the ball tonight on three days' rest to see if he can get his team back to Shea for a potential clincher Wednesday night.

In the interest of full disclosure, it must be noted that last night's offensive outburst did not come against the '63 Dodgers or '71 Orioles, or even the '06 Tigers. Try these names: Anthony Reyes, Brad Thompson, Randy Flores, Josh Hancock, Tyler Johnson, and Braden Looper. Yeah, I know the Cardinals actually put up some decent bullpen numbers against San Diego and even against the Mets in the beginning of this series, but it was only a matter of time before the best batting order in the National League began to inflict some damage on the Cardinals.

Wasn't it?

Anthony Reyes may have a future, and he did throw a magnificent one-hitter in a 1-0 loss to the White Sox in June, but when all the dust had settled he was 5-8 with a 5.06 ERA and a sadly pathetic choice to start a playoff game. But that's Tony La Russa's lot in life these days.

Trouble loomed right from the start. Though the righthander emerged from the first inning unscathed in a scoreboard sense, let the record show that he gave up 780 feet worth of outs to Paul LoDuca and David Wright in the form of warning track fly balls to dead center. The Mets had him sized up, all right.

This became evident in the third, when Carlos Beltran, a registered Cardinals offender, hit a homer to right. Two batters later Wright broke an 0-for-10 run in this series with a homer to left.

Move to the fifth. Reyes was gone by now (pitching the standard four innings we've seen from an amazing number of 2006 playoff starters), Thompson was in, and it was a 2-2 game. Second baseman Ronnie Belliard booted one off the bat of LoDuca and Beltran singled. Uh-oh. Two on and none out for Carlos Delgado, the Mets' answer to Big Papi.

I'm not saying it was entirely predictable. But let's just say it was hardly surprising when Delgado found a Thompson offering to his liking and drove one over the left-field fence for a three-run homer.

But the Mets were just warming up for the electric offensive show that was the sixth.

Reyes started it with a single to right. With Reyes on the move, LoDuca singled to third. Men on the corners for Beltran, who came from 0-and-2 to load 'em with a walk.

That meant Delgado was up with the bases loaded and nobody out, which had to have thrilled La Russa immensely. This time Delgado drove one to left-center. Scott Spiezio ran a peculiar route and the ball bounced behind him and over the fence for a ground-rule double.

To say Delgado is worth every penny the Mets are paying him is to dignify a perfectly preposterous economic universe that baseball has allowed itself to become. But it is clear he was a superb investment. He has brought the stature of a legitimate, card-carrying cleanup man to the lineup, and he has become a classic clubhouse leader. The Mets needed a big statement last night, and it was no surprise when Delgado's bat spoke with resounding eloquence.

He now has hit three consecutive homers to the opposite field. ``That's his strength, and that's the beauty of him," said Mets manager Willie Randolph. ``I remember seeing him playing Home Run Derby with Shawn Green in Toronto but going the other way. I'm glad the world, and the country, can see what a great hitter he is."

``A couple of those balls he's hit were supposed to be inside," noted La Russa. ``We're going to try to move the ball around on him. He's too good a hitter to pitch in any one area."

With the three-run homer and two-run double, Delgado has muscled his way to the top of various Mets postseason lists, including homers (3) and runs batted in (9) in a series. And this one has at least two games to go.

The explosive offense was necessary, because, unless Glavine is pitching, the Mets aren't going to beat anybody by virtue of their pitching. Starter Oliver Perez was reached for five runs, three provided by homers, in 5 2/3 innings. He even gave up a home run to David Eckstein, which is something no pitcher wants on his résumé.

But the Mets covered him in just one big-bang inning. That's who they are, and that's who they must continue to be.

Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.