ST. LOUIS – In the final minute before Shawn Green began stretching for batting practice last night, he was asked why he waived his no-trade clause to come to the Mets.

“This right here,” he said, looking around at the atmosphere surrounding Game 7 of the NLCS. “The opportunity to play in games like this and try to win aWorld Series.” Although Green was a late arrival to the Mets’ party – coming from Arizona on Aug. 22 – he was a welcome participant. The 33-year-old ripped a clutch two-out RBI single to leftcenter in the fourth inning of Game 6, an unsung knock that helped the Mets tie the NLCS at three games apiece.

“It felt great,” Green admitted.

Willie Randolph admitted that he thought of lifting Green for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning of NLCS Game 5. The Mets manager said on his weekly radio program that he contemplated replacing Green with Julio Franco with two on and one out and the Mets trailing by two.

Cardinals lefty Randy Flores had just come into the game. Green batted .267 off southpaws in 2006 (15 points lower than his average versus righties) with six homers and 11 doubles in 165 at-bats. Flores held lefties to a .258 average.

Randolph didn’t pull the trigger, and Green didn’t get the job done that night. But the way Randolph figured it, what was Green doing in the lineup if he wasn’t good enough to bat in that situation?

Eventually, Green rewarded his manager’s faith, albeit one night later.

“Anytime I get in a situation, I just try to have a good at-bat,” Green said before Game 7. “Sometimes it’s going to work out, sometimes it’s not.

“All you can do as a player is try to have good at-bats.

And I feel like I’m having good at-bats this postseason.” Green, 2-for-3 in Game 6, was batting .350 (7-for-20) in the NLCS and .345 (10-for-29) with four RBIs in the playoffs. The former first-round pick of Toronto played only three regularseason games for the Blue Jays in 1993, when they won the World Series. He batted .250 (4-for-16) for the Dodgers in their four-game NLDS defeat in 2004.