Move over Ron Swoboda and Tommie Agee. Endy Chavez may have just passed you by.
The 28-year-old reserve outfielder delivered arguably the biggest defensive play in Mets history, and one of the best in postseason history last night in Game 7 of the NLCS.
In the end, the catch didn’t lead to a Mets victory because not even Chavez could get to Yadier Molina’s two-run blast in the ninth that gave the Cards a 3-1 win. But when he made the catch in the sixth, it kept the Mets’ hopes alive in a 1-1 game.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Carlos Beltran said. “In a game like this one, in a meaningful ballgame, he goes out and makes that catch. I didn’t think he was going to be able to make that catch.”
Chavez, a 6-foot, 165-pounder who signed with the Mets last December after the Phillies gave up on him, is now going to be featured in Mets’ lore forever.
The catch came in the top of the sixth with Oliver Perez showing signs of fatigue, and the 1-1 game hanging in the balance. Jim Edmonds had just worked a one-out walk from Perez, and now Scott Rolen was at the plate. The Cardinals slugger has not had the best series, but still has a swing to inspire fear in the opposition.
Rolen turned on a 92-mph first pitch from Perez, sending it deep into left field and on its way to the Cardinals bullpen. Chavez raced from his left-field position, leaped, crashing into the wall just left of the 358-foot sign. Chavez extended every inch of his right arm over the wall. As Chavez hit the wall, which coincidentally featured a billboard reading “The Strength to Be There,” his glove moved up his hand onto his fingers.
The ball landed at the top of Chavez’s mitt, rolling to the top just far enough where you could see it. When Chavez landed on the ground, the ball was in his mitt, and the crowd roared.
“It was kind of a line drive,” Chavez said. “I tried to get to the fence quickly, but I saw the ball was high. The only chance that I’ve got is to jump. There was a 10 percent chance that I can get it. As soon as it hit my glove, I was like all right.”
Chavez then hit Jose Valentin with a relay throw to get Edmonds in a double play at first.
Rolen, like most of the stadium, watched in disbelief. “I thought it hit something and bounced,” he said. “I saw the white in his glove and thought it hit a wall and bounced back.”
Almost everyone in the stadium thought after the catch there was no way the Mets could lose.
“That was my first thought,” said Pedro Martinez, who watched from the dugout. “I thought that the game was over right there but only God knows.”
