[EmpireWF]

The 2006 New York Mets season comes down to this, one home stand at Shea Stadium. Last night after losing to the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2, both teams travel overnight to New York for tonight's Game 6. As FOX noted, the last Game 6 played at Shea was the infamous 1986 World Series Game 6. In that series by the way, Boston had a 3-2 series lead heading back to Shea and well, we all know the rest.

The Mets offense squandered opportunity after opportunity last night. The Cardinals caught some great breaks whether it was Albert Pujols finally waking up and hitting a home run or Chris Duncan hitting a pinch hit home run off Pedro Feliciano, etc. All the power to 'em.

But now, the series comes back to New York and trust me when I say that Shea Stadium will be the loudest place on the east coast tonight. Sure, the Shea faithful may be a bit hectic (with the chance this turns into an elimination game) but the Mets bats are just too good to hide in a Game 6.

The pitching match up will see Chris Carpenter take the Shea mound again (he last pitched on Friday night at Shea) for the Cards against John Maine for the Mets. You can guarantee Willie Randolph will be holding Maine to a tight leash with everyone available for the game (well, everyone safe for Glavine, Trachsel and Oliver Perez that is).

Game 6....damn playoff baseball is great.

[MVB]

I love the Mets, but looking at this seriously, their season is over. Tonight, the Cards bring in last year's Cy Young award winner against a wild, inconsistent rookie, who hasn't pitched well against St. Loius.

And even if this thing is pushed to Game 7, the Cards have Jeff Suppan ( who shut out the mets in Game 3) against either Trachsel or Oliver.

Cards v. Tigers in the '06 World Series. Who'd a thunk it?

[soriano33]

I agree with MVB.....as much as I didnt want the Cards to make it to the World Series, and that I have been rooting for the Mets, if Carpenter pitches as he has proven the past two post seasons, it will be the end of a great run for the Mets sadly

[flamnotspam]

It seems, right now, that the Cards are running away with this thing....but if this postseason has taught us anything, it's that anything can happen. Tigers swept by KC to lose the division title? Twins swept by Oakland? Oakland swept by Detroit? Detroit eliminating New York? Okay, so these are all AL upsets....but I'm just saying. Don't give up on the Mets quite yet. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I'm pretty sure I saw El Duque throw about 65 pitches in warm-up yesterday.....

[ThePundit]

Carpenter vs. Maine - I think that the Mets are in huge trouble.

[flamnotspam]

Some might say the "cards" are stacked against the Mets in this match-up, but I'm not so sure.

*I'm sooooo sorry for that pun, but it couldn't be helped....somebody was going to do it sooner or later, might as well be me.*

Carpenter: Postseason 2-0, 3.93 ERA. This series 0-0, 9.00 ERA. Struggled a bit in Game 2, giving up 5 earned runs in 6 hits, but in all of his postseason starts the Cards have emerged victorious.

Maine: Postseason 0-0, 4.32 ERA. This series 0-0, 6.75 ERA.
Hasn't made it out of the 5th in either of his two postseason starts, and allowed 7 walks in his 8-1/3 innings.

I don't think that numbers are very telling here. Maine needs to keep his pitch count down if he's going to retain command, but the Mets' bats have already proved they can hit Carpenter. It's gonna be an interesting game. I hope.

[EmpireWF]

Chris Carpenter and Jeff Suppan aren't exactly Randy Johnson or Curt Schilling from 2001. Both don't pitch as good on the road. The Mets hit Carpenter in game two. Suppan though has had success at Shea in only 3 starts he has something like a sub 2 ERA.

But it's all a moot point if the Met bats don't come to play.

Shea should literally be rocking it will be so loud.

And Oliver Perez would be the Game 7 starter for the Mets btw.

[MJHMarc]

In a time like this, the Mets would hand the ball to Oliver Perez?

I think an injured Pedro Martinez would be a better selection!

[MVB]

A couple more stats:

Carpenter: 4.27 career ERA against the Mets
Suppan: 2.20 career ERA against the Mets

[EmpireWF]

Chris Carpenter may not have a ton of confidence in one of his key pitches, I forget which, but he had a workout to figure it out yesterday. The odd thing is that Carpenter has said he doesn't like to throw side sessions late in the year, so there's something to look out for.

Also, Willie Randolph said Oliver Perez would be their Game 7 pitcher. Meaning, Steve Trachsel and Darren Oliver are available tonight in the bullpen to back up John Maine.

It's all or nothing!

[MJHMarc]

An update from the MLB Moderater:

Mets========| 0|
Cardinals====| 0|
Inning====== |B1|.

[EmpireWF]

Update from the METS MODERATOR lol...jk...well not about being Mets Mod ...

To the bottom of the 4th....
Mets lead 1-0.

[MJHMarc]

Update from the MLB Moderater, will association to EmpireWF:

Mets 2
Cardinals 0
Bottom of the 5th inning

Shawn Green single, knocked in Beltran.
Jose Reyes Homer!

Notes:That Reyes collision a few innings back looked as if Reyes was going to be out for the post-season!

[EmpireWF]

Mets come back in the 8th and pick up some important runs and head into the 9th up, 4-0.

Wagner comes in and quickly gives up two runs on a So Taguchi double. David Eckstein ends the game by grounding out to second. A little tense there in the 9th but a great win nonetheless.

John Maine did an AMAZING job tonight. He did what he needed to do, throw strikes.

Jose Reyes' lead-off HR was huge and set the tone for the rest of the night. The bats picked their spot and again, tremendous pitching. We also got lucky on some double play balls, great defense up the middle from Valentin and Reyes.

[rmjvol]

Mets win 4-2. Take it to Game #7. I do love those game #7's