Carlos Delgado waited 14 years and more than 1,700 regular season games to make his first playoff appearance.

On Wednesday evening, the 34-year-old made sure his postseason debut would be one to remember.

Delgado finished 4-for-5 with a home run and two RBI and David Wright drove in three runs as the Mets showed “never-say-die” attitude they displayed all season, edging out the Dodgers, 6-5 in front of 56,979 raucous Shea Stadium fans to take a 1-0 lead in the NLDS.

Billy Wagner allowed two doubles in the ninth to turn a two-run lead into a one-run game, but Nomar Garciaparra struck out on a slider in the dirt to give New York the win.

With the victory, the Mets improved to 5-0 at home in the NLDS.

After being shell-shocked with the news that Orlando Hernandez would be lost for the postseason with a torn calf muscle, John Maine started the opener with just 24 career starts under his belt.

Buoyed by a nice leaping catch by Jose Reyes that robbed Rafael Furcal of a leadoff hit, the 25-year-old right-hander pitched a 1-2-3 first.

New York put two runners on in the bottom half on a walk by Carlos Beltran and Delgado’s single, but Wright (2-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI) grounded out to short for the final out.

Maine wouldn’t have such an easy time in the second, but was aided by a horrible baserunning blunder by Los Angeles.

Jeff Kent singled to start the inning and J.D. Drew followed with one of his own, tapping the ball just in front of the mound where neither Maine nor Paul Lo Duca could make a play.

Russell Martin then lined an opposite field double off the base of the wall in right, but thinking the ball could possibly be caught, Kent went back to second to tag up.

Seeing that the ball would indeed land safely, Kent reversed course and took off for home but with Drew close on his heels.

Shawn Green fielded the ball cleanly off the fence, fired into Jose Valentin who then threw a perfect strike to Lo Duca at home where he not only tagged out Kent but Drew as well, turning the play into an odd, 9-4-2 double play.

Ex-Met Marlon Anderson made sure the inning wouldn’t be a complete waste for the Dodgers, slapping a ball fair down the third baseline for an RBI double and 1-0 Dodgers’ lead.

The lead seemed to settle down Los Angeles starter Derek Lowe, who after throwing 18 pitches in the first, needed just 28 to complete the second and third.

However, in the fourth, the Mets broke through off the right-hander, scoring twice with the power that produced 200 home runs during the regular season.

Delgado (4-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) blasted a 470-foot bomb off the camera stand in center, tying the game at one and two batters later, Cliff Floyd – who struggled to a .244 average and just 11 homers over 97 games – connected on his first career postseason longball, giving New York a 2-1 edge.

Now pitching with the lead, Maine immediately got into trouble in the fifth, allowing a leadoff single to Wilson Betemit who was promptly sacrificed to second by Lowe.

Following a walk to Furcal (1-for-4, RBI), manager Willie Randolph jumped out of the dugout and lifted his starter in favor of Pedro Feliciano, not wanting to ruin his young starter’s confidence nor let the game slip away.

Maine (ND), who just one week ago wasn’t sure that he’d even be on the playoff roster, walked off the field to a standing ovation.

With the tying and go-ahead runs on base, Feliciano got Kenny Lofton to strike out for the third time in as many at-bats, again prompting Randolph out of the dugout.

With the right-handed Garciaparra due up, Chad Bradford was called on to get the Mets out of the jam, which he did, retiring the ex-Red Sox slugger on a grounder to short.

The nice relief work allowed Maine (ND) to end his evening with a fine line for his first career playoff start. The 25-year-old allowed six hits in 4 1/3 but just one run with two walks (one intentional) and five strikeouts.

Both New York and Los Angeles went quietly in their next at-bats before the Mets doubled their lead in the sixth.

Lo Duca (2-for-5) singled to start the inning and scampered to third one out later on Delgado’s single to center.

After grounding out and striking out in his first two at-bats, Wright lined a shot that just eluded Drew in right and bounced to the wall, scoring both Lo Duca and Delgado for a two-run double.

After Lowe fell behind 2-0 on Floyd (1-for-3, HR), Dodgers’ manager Grady Little instructed his starter to issue an intentional pass before popping out of the dugout to take the ball from his starter.

Lefty Mark Hendrickson entered and got Green swinging before hitting Valentin, loading the bases.

In a surprise move, Randolph allowed reliever Guillermo Mota to bat with the bases loaded and although the ex-Dodger made solid contact, he flied out to right to end the inning.

After going 9-1 over the final two months of the season, Lowe (ND) wasn’t particularly sharp in his first start since Sep. 27, allowing four runs on six hits in 5 1/3.

The right-hander walked two and struck out six.

Now holding a three-run lead, Mota began the seventh after dominating the sixth in an 11-pitch inning.

However, the hard-throwing reliever would get into trouble, allowing a bunt single to Anderson (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) before Valentin made an ill-advised throw to second on a grounder by Betemit.

The ball arrived at the bag just as Anderson was sliding in, knocking it loose from Reyes’ grip which allowed the runner to move up to third, putting men at the corners with nobody out.

Mota rebounded to get pinch-hitter Julio Lugo looking at a called strike three but Furcal lined a single into left-center, cutting the lead to 4-2.

After Lofton’s fly ball to right moved Betemit (2-for-3) over to third, the speedy Furcal stole second, setting the stage for Garciaparra who would deliver the game-tying double with a bullet down the third baseline.

Mota would get Kent (2-for-4) swinging to end the threat, setting the stage for more heroics from Delgado in the bottom half.

With 16-game winner Brad Penny on in relief, Reyes worked out a leadoff walk. After Lo Duca lined out to Lofton in center, Beltran walked before Delgado laced a single just past a diving Furcal, scoring Reyes to put New York back on top, 5-4.

Wright followed with his second double of the game to right that plated Beltran, pushing the Mets’ lead to 6-4 and sending Shea Stadium into delirium.

Aaron Heilman worked a perfect eighth inning for New York, who would load the bases off reliever Jonathan Broxton. However, the hard-throwing youngster would strike out Delgado, keeping the deficit at two.

Wagner allowed a leadoff double to Betemit to start the ninth before retiring pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz on fly ball to center which moved the runner up to third.

Furcal went down swinging for the second out but pinch-hitter Ramon Martinez doubled to the gap in right-center, cutting the deficit to one.

Wagner quickly got ahead of Garciaparra (1-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI) 0-2 and after throwing two balls, nailed down New York’s first win of the 2006 postseason, getting the slugger to swing at a slider in the dirt.

Mota (1-0) picked up the win while Penny (0-1) took the loss, allowing two runs on two walks and two hits in one inning of work.

With a rousing victory in the opener, the Mets (1-0) can put a serious crimp in the Dodgers’ postseason plans as they send out Tom Glavine (15-7, 3.82) to start Game Two. The 290-game-winner fired six shutout innings in his final start of the regular season, putting an end to the month of September with a 3-1 mark and 3.40 ERA. Included in those numbers was a start versus Los Angeles in which Glavine pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings in a 7-0 victory on Sep. 7. In two starts against L.A. this season, the lefty is 2-0 and has allowed six runs and 12 hits in 11 2/3 innings (4.82 ERA).

After a tough loss in the opening game, the Dodgers (0-1) will attempt to even the series behind youngster Hong-Chih Kuo (1-5, 4.22). The native of Taiwan has made 37 appearances in his career but only five starts, all coming in the month of September. The hard-throwing southpaw shut down New York’s offense on Sep. 8 at Shea, pitching hitless ball through four innings before leaving after six shutout frames in a 5-0 victory. In his remaining four starts, Kuo was 0-1 with a 3.88 ERA over 23 1/3 innings.

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