ST. LOUIS – Carlos Beltran will look good in Pinstripes. Truth is, he’d look good in any baseball uniform. But just about everybody in baseball expects him to be wearing the Yankee colors next season after George Steinbrenner presents him an offer that he can’t refuse.

No doubt, the Yankees had their eyes on the free agent to be long before the postseason began. But after watching his performance in the NLDS against the Braves, the Yanks’ interest must have gone from like to lust.

Beltran dominated the NLDS, hitting .455 with four home runs, driving in nine runs and touching 24 total bases. Two of his homers came in the decisive Game 5 win Monday in Atlanta.

“He’s dangerous,” Roger Clemens said of Beltran. “He’s one of those guys that’s extremely dangerous.”

No doubt the Yankee scouts following the Astro centerfielder have relayed the same message to The Bronx. While Beltran wasn’t exactly an unknown, having made his first All-Star team last July, he spent his first six seasons playing in the relative obscurity of Kansas City on bad teams.

His trade to the Astros in exchange for closer Octavio Dotel on June 24 was not so much a gamble by GM Gerry Hunsicker as it was a necessity for the struggling Astros.

“You usually don’t sacrifice one part of the team to make another part better,” Hunsicker said. “But we had a lot of confidence in [Brad] Lidge and we knew we weren’t going to get [to the postseason] without jump starting our offense. There’s nothing this guy can’t do. His speed has impacted the team, he defense and his hitting . . . he’s meant an awful lot to us.”

The Astros, who took on the Cards in Game 1 of the NLCS last night, don’t talk much about Beltran’s impending free agency. Mostly, they keep their fingers crossed and hope they continue the good fortune that brought them Andy Pettitte and Clemens from the Yankees last year and Jeff Kent the year before that.

“I’m happy for him because people are going to know who Carlos Beltran is because he has played in obscurity over the last couple of years,” Astro manager Phil Garner said. “This is going to put his name out there and people are going to know who is he. I just hope we can keep him here in Houston.”

Beltran, 27, has been an easy fit in the Astros clubhouse. He is quiet, humble and appreciative of his success.

“All this year for me has been a dream,” he said. “Being able to be in my first All-Star Game, being able to make it to the playoffs, being able to perform the way I am doing right now, I just feel like it is a dream. I’m very happy being able to contribute to help the Astros win day in, day out no matter how, defensively, offensively. I’m very pleased with my performance. I’m very happy.”

The goal of every player in October is to win a World Series ring, but should Beltran and the Astros not make it that far, he’ll settle for nice consolation prize: a lucrative contract and perhaps a Pinstriped uniform.