New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine warms up during practice for today’s NLCS opener. He pitched six shutout innings against the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLDS last week. Associated Press Photo.

NEW YORK - After cruising through a sensational regular season, Tom Glavine and the New York Mets are trying to reach the World Series with a makeshift pitching rotation.

Pedro Martinez is injured. So is Orlando Hernandez. And the Mets might start rookie John Maine twice in the NL championship series against St. Louis.

Trying to slow down slugger Albert Pujols is a tall order for any staff, much less one missing two experienced arms.

No wonder so much is riding on Glavine's outing tonight, when the Mets and Cardinals open the best-of-seven NLCS at Shea Stadium.

“I don't feel like there's any added pressure on me,” Glavine said. “Losing Pedro and losing El Duque certainly hurts us. It's not the ideal situation going in. But that's the responsibility of all 25 guys on our team to try and make up and pick up the slack.”

A rejuvenated Jeff Weaver will be on the mound for the Cardinals, who won 14 fewer games than New York this year. That doesn't mean they lack confidence, though.

“I think we can compete with anybody and we're just going to go out there and prove it,” Pujols said. “It doesn't matter how bad or how good you look in the paper. You need to go out there and prove it when you cross that line 8 o'clock tomorrow.”

Both teams are all banged up. The Mets have been missing Martinez and Hernandez since the postseason began, and left fielder Cliff Floyd is hobbled by a sore Achilles' tendon.

St. Louis should have All-Star third baseman Scott Rolen back in Game 1 after he received a cortisone shot for his surgically repaired left shoulder. But center fielder Jim Edmonds has been fighting the effects of a concussion, and the pitching staff is without injured closer Jason Isringhausen and starter Mark Mulder.

Yet plenty of stars are still at full strength, including Pujols.

Much of the talk as the teams worked out Tuesday centered on whether New York's depleted staff could contain the reigning MVP - and whether the Mets would pitch to him at all.

“Yes, and carefully,” the 40-year-old Glavine said. “So much of it depends on the situation of the game.”

But with Rolen and Edmonds hurting, St. Louis' lineup looks less than imposing aside from Pujols, who batted .331 with 49 homers and 137 RBIs this year. It would seem the smartest strategy for the Mets might be to force someone else to try and beat them.

“It's tough for one guy to win a seven-game series for a team,” New York third baseman David Wright said. “You have to keep him from the RBI situations.”

Pujols hit a key home run in the first round aganst San Diego, a series the Cardinals (83-78) won impressively in four games after going 3-9 to end the season and nearly squandering their big NL Central lead.

“If you want to walk him, walk him. The guys that hit behind him have made that strategy not pay off enough to where managers say, this is not good,” St. Louis skipper Tony La Russa said. “My favorite quote, when you deal with really dangerous hitters - it's about competition, not cowards. You raise competitors, not cowards. I really like that.”

La Russa has his Cardinals in the NLCS for the third straight season and fifth time in seven years overall - a run that began with a loss to the wild-card Mets in 2000. St. Louis is 1-3 in its last four NLCS appearances and is still looking for its first World Series championship since 1982.

The Mets went on to lose the Subway Series in 2000 to the crosstown Yankees, already eliminated from this year's postseason.

So after a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series, the Mets (97-65) own the Big Apple in October for a change. And even without Martinez and Hernandez, the NL East champions are favored by some to win their first World Series title since 1986.

The reasons for that are New York's deep bullpen and a balanced, relentless lineup that starts with speedy Jose Reyes getting on base for sluggers Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Wright.

“It's tough to see some guys get hurt. But what are you going to do, roll over and quit? You might as well keep fighting. We've come so far,” said Delgado, who batted .429 with a homer and several clutch hits against the Dodgers - the first playoff series of his 14-year career.

“Unorthodox in baseball means absolutely nothing. Just win, and label it however you want.”

Then there's the Mets' home-field advantage at raucous Shea Stadium. And Glavine, a 290-game winner who tossed six shutout innings to beat Los Angeles in Game 2.

“Glavine kind of stabilizes this team,” closer Billy Wagner said.

The Cardinals' staff features ace Chris Carpenter, the 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner. He went 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA in the first round and is slated to start Game 3 against New York - then possibly Game 7, if necessary.

But first, Weaver gets the ball in the opener. Cast off by the Angels in July, he knows New York all too well following an unsuccessful stint with the Yankees from 2002-03, when he was often booed lustily in the Bronx.

“That definitely prepared me for anything that can come my way,” Weaver said.