Aurilia, who led the Giants in RBI in their division-series ouster of the Braves, bashed two homers last night as San Francisco seized control of the NLCS with a 4-1 win over St. Louis in Game 2 at Busch Stadium.

"This is something you dream of doing as a kid," Aurilia said before greeting his 1-year-old son, Chaz, outside the clubhouse.

A night after the teams nearly came to blows when reliever Mike Crudale buzzed Kenny Lofton with an inside pitch, the Giants wrestled home-field advantage from the Cardinals with a sweep at Busch, although no further hostility ensued.

No team that has dropped two games at home to open the NLCS has come back to earn a World Series berth. But perhaps St. Louis can take solace in this: The Cardinals are the last team to overcome a 2-0 NLCS deficit, in 1985, when they won four straight against Los Angeles en route to an all-Missouri World Series versus Kansas City.

"Well, in one sense, it's a perfect setup for us. I mean, it's really been a hard year," Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa said. "This is a hard start. But I know how ready we'll be when we go to San Francisco."

Giants starter Jason Schmidt took a shutout into the eighth last night, when he exited after surrendering a two-out solo homer to pinch-hitter Eduardo Perez. Lofton, in center, kept the game scoreless until then. The object of jeers from the crowd because of his reaction to Crudale's pitch in Game 1, Lofton threw out J.D. Drew tagging from third to end the third and keep the Giants ahead, 1-0.

"That might have been the play of the game right there," Schmidt said.

Aurilia, a St. John's product whose number - which was then 22 - is retired by the Our Lady of Grace youth league in Brooklyn, staked the Giants to a lead in the first when he launched a 1-0 slider from St.Louis starter Woody Williams over the left-field wall.

Williams, pitching for the first time since Sept. 20 because pain in his left side and lower back had surfaced, then held San Francisco in check until the fifth, when Aurilia came to the plate with two out and David Bell aboard. This time, Aurilia belted a 380-foot, two-run homer to nearly the same spot as the Giants grabbed a three-run lead.

"I think the same guy caught both of the balls I hit," Aurilia joked.

The 31-year-old Aurilia has a history of launching longballs, but elbow trouble this year knocked him off his standard pace. He led NL shortstops in homers and RBI three straight seasons, from 1999 to 2001. Ernie Banks is the only NL shortstop to hit more homers in a single season than Aurilia's 37 last year.

Aurilia's multi-homer game was the first in the NLCS since Ron Gant hit two for the Cards in 1996.

Aurilia had elbow discomfort from spring training, and only in August did he finally feel healthy. He rushed back from surgery after two weeks. And he had developed bad habits because of the injury, which caused him not to extend fully during his swing.

Now, however, the mechanics are back. And so are the Giants, who moved within two games of their first World Series appearance since 1989 as they continued to postpone manager Dusty Baker's ballyhooed free agency.

"The way I hit the ball tonight out of the park is the way I'm used to hitting the ball," Aurilia said.

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