The lineup had the identical first eight hitters again last night for the Mets.
“My winners out there,” Willie Randolph said before the game.
“Got ’em out there.” Randolph’s team was out there last night, battling the Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS at Shea. A place in the World Series was at stake, with the well-rested Tigers hosting Game 1 tomorrow night at Comerica Park in Detroit.
On Wednesday night at Shea, the Mets captured their first, true must-win of the season, earning a 4-2 victory in Game 6. John Maine pitched a terrific game, delivering 51/3 scoreless innings, while Jose Reyes, Shawn Green and Paul Lo Duca all drove in runs. Lo Duca plated a pair.
“We’ve got big hearts in this clubhouse. That’s for sure,” David Wright said after Game 6, when asked what the victory proved about the Mets’ fortitude. “We never say die. We play 27 outs as hard as possible and we play for each other. And it seemed like today more than any other time this year, we went out there and we didn’t want to let the next person down. We didn’t want to let our teammates down. We just wanted to continue the season.
“It’s been fun so far, it’s been a magical season, but it just seemed like we didn’t want to go out there and let each other down, playing for each other.” Last night, though, the Mets had to take another must-win in order to advance.
And on the hill, once again, was the previously seldomused Oliver Perez, who took on Cardinals righty Jeff Suppan.
“Been here many times, man.
Feels good to me,” Randolph said before the game. “This is nothing new to me. I feel like this is where I should be. So I’m excited. Been floating around all day long, been looking forward to getting to the ballpark and ready to be out there with my boys, so this feels very comfortable to me, very good.” A jumpy, talkative Randolph said he arrived at Shea yesterday “about the same time. I just couldn’t wait to get here. I’m always pretty energetic anyway.
Had a quick workout early just to calm down a little bit.
Couldn’t stop moving around and just wanted to get here.
“I just feel this is going to be a special day for us, and I just feel like this is what I’m accustomed to doing. I’ve been doing it for a long, long time. I’ve been blessed to be involved in some Game 7s in the postseason for a lot of years.
“It’s what you live for, it’s what you expect, and I wish I could put a glove on and a bat, but my knees won’t work anymore.” Last night was the Mets’ fourth Game 7 in franchise history and their first one in 18 years. In 1988 against the Dodgers in the NLCS, they lost, and they also fell in the 1973 World Series vs. Oakland. The victory was in the 1986 World Series against the Red Sox.
The Mets’ last World Series berth was in 2000, when they were defeated in five games by the Yankees.
St. Louis, of course, was in the 2004 World Series, getting swept by the Red Sox.
METS vs CARDINALS
NLCS glance WFAN – 660 AM; ESPN – 1050 AM
Game Date Site Time TV Radio
Game 1 Thursday Mets 2, Cardinals 0
Game 2 Friday Cardinals 9, Mets 6
Game 3 Saturday Cardinals 5, Mets 0
Game 4 Sunday Mets 12, Cardinals 5
Game 5 Tuesday Cardinals 4, Mets 2
Game 6 Wednesday Mets 4, Cardinals 2 (Tied, 3-3)
Game 7 Last night
