All the Mets needed from John Maine was for him to pitch the game of his life to save their season. So of course he went out and did that. Now things get a bit more interesting.
Maine did not start off well, allowing two hits and hitting a batter in the first inning as he struggled with his control. But he was able to escape a bases loaded jam. Jose Reyes then homered to lead off the bottom of the inning, giving Maine a bit of breathing room. After that, Maine settled down a bit. He pitched five and one-third scoreless innings to give the Mets a shot against Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who pitched a bit better than he did in game two. Maine allowed just two hits and four walks, one of which was intentional. He struck out five. This was a huge performance from Maine, dragging the Mets from a desperate state to one with some room for optimism.
The Mets added just one more run against Carpenter. They strung three singles together in the fourth, with Shawn Green driving in the run. Green had two hits in the game and was also hit by a pitch. And he actually caught two fly balls that the Cardinals were kind enough to hit directly at him.
Fortunately the Mets got a chance to bat against old friend Braden Looper in the seventh. They added two runs on three singles, the last of which by Paul Lo Duca. They would need them.
Three relievers pitched well after Maine was removed in the sixth. Chad Bradford came in with one on and one out and immediately got a double play. He gave up a hit and got an out in the seventh before Guillermo Mota came in and got a twin killing of his own. Aaron Heilman emerged from seclusion to pitch a very good eighth, allowing just a meaningless single to Albert Pujols. Then the Mets turned it over to Billy Wagner.
Wagner had not been pitching well in the playoffs thus far, allowing one run in the LDS and losing game two of the LCS when he gave up three runs. Things did not go any better in this game. He gave up a single and a double before recording an out. He retired the next two batters only to have his nemesis So Taguchi smack a two-run double. He did retire the next batter, but there was nothing about this performance that inspired confidence. Right now it seems the Mets have found themselves a new Armando Benitez.
But none of that matters right now. The Mets, wearing the classic blue hats for the first time this postseason, were victorious and they will host game seven Thursday night. Jeff Suppan (1-1, 2.19 in 12.1 playoff innings) will start for St. Louis. The Mets' starting pitcher will probably be Oliver Perez (1-0, 7.94 in 5.2 playoff innings) who may be relieved by Darren Oliver (0-0, 3.68 in 7.1 playoff innings) after a few innings. Suppan shut the Mets down in game three, but I can't imagine that happening again. He is still Jeff Suppan. The Mets will probably need to score some runs to win this game, but I see no reason why they can't. Like I said yesterday, ya gotta believe!
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