Mets stay alive in NLCS, force Game 7
NEW YORK — John Maine did his part for the New York Mets. Now it's up to Oliver Perez.
On a team filled with big-name stars, the fill-ins are getting the big wins.
Brimming with confidence and blocking out adversity, John Maine pitched a game to remember, and now the NL championship series comes down to a winner-take-all finale.
The rookie dominated St. Louis with the poise of a veteran, Jose Reyes sparked the offense with a leadoff home run and the Mets rocked 'n' rolled at boisterous Shea Stadium to beat the Cardinals 4-2 on Wednesday night and force the NL championship series to a Game 7.
Missing Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez?
So what.
Sending out a rookie to start Game 6 and a 3-13 pitcher for Game 7?
The Mets are sure they can find a way to make it work.
With the season on the line, Mets manager Willie Randolph exudes an assured attitude that has filtered down throughout his roster. Players were even briefed before the game on travel plans to Detroit for Saturday's World Series opener.
"I think if you're going to play the game and you want to be a winner, you have to believe that you can," Randolph said.
Maine outpitched reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the first and two-on trouble in the third. Maine allowed two hits in the first and none after that, pitching 5 1-3 shutout innings, striking out five and walking four.
"I knew everything was riding on it," he said.
Reyes had three hits and two stolen bases, Shawn Green boosted the lead with a fourth-inning RBI single and Paul Lo Duca let the loud crowd of 56,334 exhale with a two-run, two-out single in the seventh off ex-Met Braden Looper that made it 4-0.
That turned out to be key because Billy Wagner gave up a two-run, two-out double to So Taguchi in the ninth before retiring David Eckstein on a game-ending grounder.
Now the pennant comes down to Thursday night, when the Cardinals start Jeff Suppan, who won Game 3 with eight scoreless innings.
"This is what you dream," said Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, who has just one RBI in the series. "This is what it's all about."
"We'll take our chances with Game 7," the Cardinals' Jim Edmonds said. "We're ready to play."
Home teams that have won Game 6 to tie a postseason series have won 11 straight Game 7s since the 1975 Red Sox lost the World Series finale to Cincinnati.
"If I could have written the script, I wouldn't have done it like this," said the Mets' Carlos Delgado, in the first postseason of his career.
