The New York Mets' Carlos Delgado watches his solo home run in the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game One of their National League Division Series playoff game in New York on Wednesday. The Mets won 6-5. - reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters):

THE NEW York Mets' bullpen combined to edge out the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 in their series opener on Wednesday, while their Big Apple rivals the Yankees had the second game of their divisional series postponed due to rain.

Inclement weather was not an issue at the Minneapolis Metro-dome, where Oakland's Mark Kotsay slammed an inside the park two-run homer in a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Twins as the Athletics took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series.

With aces Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez out through injury, the Mets' post-season chances appeared gloomy when they took to the Shea Stadium field for Game One of the their NL division series with rookie John Maine on the mound.

However, Maine provided the Mets 4-1/3 sharp innings, giving up one run and the heart of the New York order - Carlos Delgado and David Wright - delivered the big hits as the Mets hung on to take an early advantage in the series.

Mammoth home run

Delgado, playing the first post-season game of his 14-year career, stroked four hits, including a mammoth home run, and Wright hit two doubles to drive in three for New York, who were making their first playoff appearance since 2000.

"It's nice to see him (Delgado) get the opportunity to finally get on this stage and come through," Mets manager Willie Randolph told reporters.

"He hit the ball the other way, hit it sharp. He's tough to pitch to when his approach is that way."

Deadlocked at 4-4, Delgado also delivered the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh, when he singled sharply to centre to score Jose Reyes.

The Mets also received a solid effort from their bullpen, Randolph using five relievers to finish the game.

"Our bullpen is rested and ready and that is our strength," said Randolph, whose relievers led the majors with wins this season with 32 and were second in ERA.

Game Two was scheduled for last night, with New York starting Tom Glavine against Hong-Chih Kuo of Taiwan in a battle of left-handers. In Minneapolis, the Athletics moved to within a win of sweeping the Twins and getting past the first round of the play-offs for the first time since 1992, having lost nine consecutive AL division series games in which they had a chance to advance since 2000.

"We're up 2-0, and that's it," Athletics general manager Billy Beane said. "That means nothing (ahead of Game Three on) Friday. We've been here before."

Tied 2-2 in the seventh inning, with two out and a runner on first, Kotsay lined a shot into centre field in front of charging Torii Hunter, a Gold Glove outfielder who made only four fielding errors during the regular season.

But Hunter badly misjudged a diving catch, the stunned capacity crowd at the Metrodome falling silent as the ball rolled to the wall and Jason Kendall easily scored followed home by a sprinting Kotsay.

Oakland added a run in the ninth on another Twins error when Nick Swisher scored on a wild pitch.

The series now shifts to Oakland where the Athletics can clinch a place in the championship series when they host Game Three today.