ST. LOUIS (AP) - Scott Spiezio sparked St. Louis with a two-run triple for the second straight night, and again it bounced off Mets right fielder Shawn Green .

''I kind of approach everything the same way as I have all season, just keep it real simple, look for a ball in my zone,'' Spiezio said after the Cardinals beat New York 5-0 Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in the NL championship series.

Spiezio's seventh-inning triple off Green's glove on the top of the right-field wall tied Game 2 at 6-6. His first-inning triple in Game 3 bounced just in front of the glove of a diving Green and put the Cardinals ahead 2-0.

''Lately I've just been picking a zone and looking for a pitch in that zone and when I get it, just put a short swing on it, not try to hit one a mile,'' he said.

He has five RBIs in the NLCS and six in the playoffs.

Spiezio drove in eight runs for the Angels in the 2002 World Series against San Francisco and hit a three-run homer in Game 6 that began Anaheim's comeback from a 5-0, seventh-inning deficit.

He played left field Saturday after taking over from All-Star third baseman Scott Rolen the previous night.

''I'm not sure he's playing tomorrow,'' Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. ''There's a lineup to write there, and it's going to be tough to get him in there. But you're tempted to because he'll make something good happen.''

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QUOTABLE? Angry that Albert Pujols was criticized for saying Tom Glavine ''wasn't good, he wasn't good at all'' after the left-hander pitched shutout ball for seven innings in the opener, La Russa got into a journalism discussion Saturday prior to Game 3.

''It's very irritating to me because I know Albert is classy, professional, respects the game, respects people in it,'' La Russa said.

''The guys that give the best quotes are usually the guys that are not the very best competitors. If a guy burns with the competition and you get him 10 or 15 minutes later, he's liable to say something that's not really how he reflects. Albert doesn't disrespect Glavine. ...

''I don't want to see Albert Pujols misrepresented. If this happens a couple of times, I'll tell him, 'Make yourself unavailable,' and that happened a couple of times, and he got ripped because he wasn't around to answer questions. For me, let his actions speak better than his words. ... If somebody labels Albert Pujols as disrespectful and not a good pro, that's ridiculous and it bothers me tremendously. ... I repeat, the guys that give you the best quotes, I would check their competitive fire. It needs to be burning a little.''

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ROOKIE HOPE: When assembling his rotation for the NLCS, La Russa picked the promise of rookie Anthony Reyes over the unpredictability of Jason Marquis . The 24-year-old Reyes is to make his postseason debut in Game 4 Sunday.

''For the most part I don't really get too nervous or jittery whenever I play,'' Reyes said. ''I'm going into this thing just thinking it's a regular baseball game, not trying to think about anything else and just going out there and making my pitches.''

Marquis was on the roster for the division series instead of Reyes but wasn't used. Reyes will be making his first appearance since the regular-season finale on Oct. 1, when he pitched on three days' rest and on short notice and failed to make it out of the first inning.

La Russa decided to save Chris Carpenter for the postseason opener, or a makeup game with the San Francisco Giants or a tiebreaker game against the Houston Astros .

''To have to get ready and pitch a game of that magnitude, that's all to the good,'' La Russa said.

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AN OLIVER TWIST: Three months ago, Oliver Perez was toiling in the Pittsburgh Pirates ' minor league system, lacking control and confidence. Now, he's preparing to pitch Game 4 for the Mets.

Acquired from Pittsburgh at the July 31 trade deadline with reliever Roberto Hernandez for outfielder Xavier Nady , Perez wound up with a spot in New York's playoff rotation because of injuries to Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez .

''It wasn't a long decision. We needed a fourth starter, and he pitched well for us this year,'' Mets manager Willie Randolph said. ''We like his stuff. It was down to either him or Dave Williams , and we felt like he was the guy that would give us a quality start.''

After going 3-13 with a 6.55 ERA in 22 major league starts this year, the 25-year-old left-hander would be only the second pitcher with a regular-season record 10 games under .500 to start a postseason game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Albie Lopez was 9-19 in 2001 and started twice in the playoffs for Arizona.

''Since he's been here, he's worked real hard,'' Randolph said of Perez. ''He's done a nice job of repeating his delivery, throwing strikes. Every once in a while he'll get a little bit erratic, like most pitchers will, but he's really been very consistent throwing strikes, and since he's been here that's been a big improvement for him.''

Perez went 1-2 with a 4.82 ERA in three starts against the Cardinals this year. He was 1-3 with a 6.38 ERA in seven starts with New York.

''He's a very excitable kid and you can see that he's kind of high strung, if you will. On the field, he's very animated and enthusiastic. I don't see any scared. He seems like when he competes, when he gets the ball, he goes after you,'' Randolph said. ''I think he understands where he is and wants the opportunity to show what he can do.''

Perez has been successful before. He went 12-10 with a 2.98 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 196 innings in 2004 with the Pirates, but has dropped off dramatically since.

''I was thinking too much on the mound. I wasn't pitching relaxed,'' Perez said.

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LATE NIGHT: With no off day because of Wednesday's rainout in New York, the Mets and St. Louis Cardinals had a short turnaround between Games 2 and 3.

The Cardinals' charter landed at about 3 a.m. CDT, with players leaving the airport about 30 minutes later. The Mets' plane landed at approximately 4 a.m. and players got to their hotel a half-hour later.

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FLOYD UPDATE: Cliff Floyd , slowed by his injured left Achilles tendon, didn't play for the second straight day. He left the opener after two innings.

''He's ready to pinch hit for us tonight,'' Randolph said before the game. ''Hopefully, when he comes in and gives me a thumbs up, he'll be in the lineup.''

Julio Franco , another available pinch hitter, is 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the postseason.

''We're going to keep going to him like we would a closer,'' Randolph said. ''He's been kind of getting himself out a little bit and that's just typical sometimes when you swing at bad pitches. ... I'm not going to give up on him now.''

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AP Sports Writers R.B. Fallstrom and Mike Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.