CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Kerry Wood was bothered by a stiff back, yet made it a painful experience for the New York Mets .

Wood pitched a four-hitter for his second shutout of the season and struck out 11 to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 2-0 victory over the Mets and their first three-game sweep of the year at Wrigley Field.

Cubs manager Dusty Baker had Shawn Estes ready as an emergency starter in case Wood (13-11) would not be able to make the start. But after warming up in the bullpen, Wood declared himself fit to pitch, then dominated the Mets.

"My back was a little stiff and I didn't know how it would be until after I threw in the bullpen," said Wood, who threw 125 pitches and recorded his fourth complete game. "When I started the game, it was still a little stiff, but it loosened up as the game went on, so everything was all right."

Wood was more than all right. With a fastball that was clocked as high as 96 miles per hour and a sharp curveball, the righthander breezed through a lineup that was missing slugger Mike Piazza and managed just four singles.

The 26-year-old Wood matched a career high in wins, which he set in his rookie season of 1998, and raised his major league-leading strikeout total to 254 in 204 innings. It was Wood's 10th double-figure strikeout game of the season and 36th of his career.

The Mets had just one baserunner in the last six innings, a two-out single by Vance Wilson in the seventh.

"It was easy," said Josh Paul , who started at catcher for the first time since being recalled on September 1. "I didn't move to do anything at all. Kerry did all the work. He pitched great all day."

Wood walked just one and, as usual, plunked a batter, hitting Roger Cedeno in the first inning. It was his 21st hit batter - the most in the majors since Tom Murphy of the California Angels also hit 21 in 1969.

Doug Glanville hit his 10th career leadoff homer to give Wood the only run he needed. Aramis Ramirez led off the second inning with his 23rd home run of the year for the Cubs, who improved to 13-4 in September and moved within one game of first-place Houston in the National League Central Division.

Houston plays at Colorado on Wednesday night.

The Cubs had swept three series this season, but all of them had come on the road. This was their first sweep at Wrigley Field since July 12-14, 2002 against Florida.

"Now we have started to win at home, we have to go on the road," Baker said. "But we've played good on the road, so we'll have to find a way to keep it up."

Al Leiter (14-9) was the hard-luck loser, allowing just four hits in seven innings. All of the hits came in the first two innings

"Falling behind 2-0 after two innings is not what I wanted because it gave them a lift and makes it easier for Wood to make pitches," said Leiter, who walked one and struck out four.

The loss was the fourth in a row and 12th in 13 games for the Mets, who had little chance in this series against Wood, Mark Prior and Matt Clement .

Prior struck out 13 over 8 2/3 innings in the Cubs' 3-2 win on Tuesday and Clement allowed an unearned run and just three hits over seven innings in Chicago's 4-1 victory in the series opener.

"When you see what he (Prior) did (last night), you just want to keep it going and try to match him," Wood said.

"They threw three good pitchers at us this series and they got the job done and we didn't," Mets manager Art Howe said. "We just didn't put the ball in play enough."

The Cubs hadn't swept the Mets since taking a four-game series here in August 1992.

Making just his eighth start in center field since joining the Cubs, Glanville led off with his first home run of the season, pulling a 2-1 pitch inside the left field foul pole.

"When you get in there, you want to contribute," said Glanville, a lifetime .339 hitter against Leiter. "I don't expect to hit a lot of home runs, but I've had success against Leiter and I got good wood on the ball."

Ramirez pulled an 0-2 pitch over the left field wall and onto Waveland Avenue in the second.