Louis, Missouri The Mets jumped on Cardinals starter Darryl Kile right from the outset. Rookie Timo Pérez led off the game with a double into the right field corner, and following a walk to Edgardo Alfonzo, scored on a double by Mike Piazza. A Robin Ventura sacrifice fly would plate Alfonzo, and the Mets were off and running. Piazza's double resulted in one of the more memorable moments of the series. Mets coach John Stearns was wearing a microphone for Fox Sports during the games, and his screams of "THE MONSTER IS OUT OF THE CAGE!!" were broadcast to a national audience. "The Monster is out of the cage" would become a rallying cry for the Mets and Piazza throughout the series. Mets starter Mike Hampton was sharp. Over seven innings, he limited the Cardinals to six hits and no runs. At the plate, Hampton helped his own cause by singling, moving to second on a groundout, and scoring the Mets' third run on Alfonzo's RBI single in the fifth inning. The Mets would effectively put the game away in the ninth inning off of Mike James on a lead off home run by Todd Zeile and two batters later, a two-run home run by Jay Payton. In the bottom of the inning, Ray Lankford hit a leadoff double off of Armando Benitez. Two outs later, shortstop Kurt Abbott's error to first on Edgar Renteria's ground ball allowed Lankford to score and Renteria to reach first. Then Jim Edmonds singled to right and Timo Perez's errant throw to third allowed Renteria to score, but Eric Davis grounded out to end the game as the Mets' 6–2 win gave them a 1–0 series lead. Game 2 Thursday, October 12, 2000 at Busch Stadium (II) in St. Louis, Missouri The Mets once again jumped out to a first inning lead due to the wildness of Cardinals starter Rick Ankiel, who walked two and threw two wild pitches to put runners on second and third with one out. Todd Zeile's sacrifice fly scored a run and after a walk, Benny Agbayani's double scored another. The Cardinals trimmed the Mets lead to 2–1 in the second inning against starter Al Leiter. A run-scoring ground out with two on by Eli Marrero would plate Shawon Dunston. The Mets got that run back in the third when Mike Piazza hit his first home run of the