ST. LOUIS – Jeff Suppan had plenty of help from his friends when he handcuffed the Mets last night in Game 3 of the NLCS at Busch Stadium.

There is no denying the journeyman right-hander was on, but without the gloves behind him, Suppan would have to work a little harder to keep the Mets from denting the plate in the eight innings he worked of a 5-0 Cardinals victory that put the hosts up 2-1 in the best-of-five series.

Right fielder Preston Wilson and third baseman Scott Rolen made two impressive plays and shortstop David Eckstein contributed a nifty fielding play.

“We have a good defensive team,” said Wilson, who cut down Jose Valentin – who foolishly tried to stretch a single into a double in the fifth inning with the Mets trailing, 5-0 – with a laser throw right on the bag. “We have Gold Glove winners and we have the ability to make plays. We have a chance to control the game and slow it down defensively.”

Wilson gave credit to center fielder Jim Edmonds for telling him Valentin was trying for second. And he gave Edmonds an assist on a catch that robbed Jose Reyes of an extra-base hit in the sixth.

Wilson made a running catch on Reyes’ liner that was headed for the right-field fence. With the way Reyes runs, it would have been his second triple in as many at-bats and may have been the hit to get the Mets back into the game.

A batter later, Rolen, who returned to the lineup after sitting out Game 2 because Tony La Russa didn’t like something in Rolen’s swing, made a bare-handed grab of Paul Lo Duca’s chopper and turned it into the final out.

Rolen added a back-handed stab on David Wright’s grounder toward the bag for the final out in the seventh.

Eckstein got into the glovework clinic in the eighth when he made a nice pick on Endy Chavez’s grounder and turned it into a force play at second. The solid defense was supported by Scott Spiezio’s two-run triple in the first off Steve Trachsel, who left the game in the second inning with a bruised right thigh.