ST. LOUIS – As the NLCS began, the baseball world heard all about the supposed homefield advantage St. Louis has, how the best fans in baseball would lift the Cardinals to wins in Games 1 and 2, how the Redbirds would arrive at Shea 2-0.

Yeah, right.

After a 6-2 loss to the Mets in Game 1 and a 6-5 marathon loss last night, the Cards will show up at Shea for tomorrow afternoon’s game in a must-win situation for Game 3.

“It’ll be a hostile place, going in there with maybe their best money pitcher on the mound. It’ll be tough,” said Shawon Dunston. “But we’re not gonna give up. We still have games to play. We’ve got to battle back, and hopefully get back to St. Louis.”

It’s a situation the Cards could hardly have foreseen. Their rabid fans and strong play at home had them confident in these first two games. They were pretty much at a loss to describe how they could’ve lost two.

“They’ve got two games on us. We’re in a tough spot right now. But I don’t think we’re going to go away,” said center-fielder Jim Edmonds, who went 0-4 and stranded three baserunners.