It took Carlos Delgado 13 years to get to the postseason, but the veteran first baseman looks right at home on the playoff stage.

Delgado was responsible for four of the Mets’ six runs last night – blasting a pair of homers that were wasted in their 9-6 loss to the Cardinals in Game 2 of the NLCS.

The 34-year-old made his presence felt immediately in this postseason, with two RBIs in his first playoff game last week against the Dodgers. His impact last night was every bit as dramatic and needed by the Mets.

Delgado gave them an early lead with a 440-foot three-run home run to center field off of Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter. After the Mets blew the lead, thanks in part to a Delgado error, he gave them the lead in the fifth inning. With the game tied at 4, Delgado’s big bat struck again. This time, he took Carpenter’s 3-2 offering and hit it 365 feet over the left-field fence and into the Cardinals bullpen for a solo shot.

“He’s in a nice groove right now,” Willie Randolph said of Delgado. “When he’s hitting the ball solid the other way like that, and through the middle, he’s just an unbelievable hitter.”

After going 2-for-5 last night, Delgado is now batting .462 in the postseason. That’s not bad for a first-timer.

The first baseman’s night was not completely smooth sailing. His error on a Scott Spiezio groundball in the second inning led to the Cardinals’ first scoring chance. He also struck out to lead off the bottom of the ninth with the Mets desperate for a rally.

While Delgado’s impact in his first season on the Mets was felt in the field, it may have been even greater in the clubhouse. He provided a friendly face for Carlos Beltran, who relaxed the minute Delgado joined the team. The smile has not left his face in the playoffs.

“This is great,” Delgado said before last night’s game. “You know, watching it on TV, for the longest time, I tried to play as hard as I could for as long as I could to get here, and it seems that every year we came up short in that American League East Division.”

It hasn’t taken long for Delgado to catch on how different the postseason is from the regular season.

“This is it, for all the marbles,” Delgado said. “Everything, the adrenaline gets fired up, you get fired up a little bit more, the energy level is higher. It’s still the same game, but the emotions play a big role here.”