Party on hold

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By The Associated Press | Thursday, October 19, 2006 12:48 AM CDT | () comments

ASSOCIATED PRESS Michael Tucker (22) welcomes Jose Reyes after both scored in the seventh inning.

NEW YORK — With the New York Mets on the brink of elimination, John Maine pitched a game to remember.

The rookie dominated St. Louis with the poise of a veteran, Jose Reyes sparked the offense with a leadoff home run and the Mets rock ’n’ rolled at boisterous Shea Stadium to beat the Cardinals 4-2 on Wednesday night and force the NL championship series to a decisive seventh game.

“I knew everything was riding on it,” Maine said.

Reyes had three hits and two stolen bases, Shawn Green boosted the lead with a fourth-inning RBI single and Lo Duca let the loud crowd of 56,334 exhale with a two-run, two-out single in the seventh off Braden Looper that made it 4-0.

Now the pennant comes down to Thursday night, when the Cardinals start Jeff Suppan, who won Game 3 with eight scoreless innings.

“We left everything out on the field today,” St. Louis second baseman Ronnie Belliard said. “Nobody said it’s going to be easy.”

Carefully piecing together their pitching following injuries to Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez, the Mets will start Game 4 winner Oliver Perez on three days’ rest.

“Everyone wants to pitch in the seventh game.” said Perez, just 3-13 during the regular season.

Of 11 prior teams to trail 3-2 in the LCS and force a seventh game, eight won pennants — the exceptions were the 1988 Mets, the 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates and 2003 Boston Red Sox. 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.

“They are getting ready to have the experience of a lifetime if you’re in professional sports,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said, looking ahead to Game 7. “I’d prefer our club to not go through it, obviously, but it’s magical. So I’m sure we’ll be ready.”

Even before Game 6, Mets manager Willie Randolph exuded confidence. Players were briefed on plans to travel to Detroit on Friday for the World Series opener the following day.

“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.

Darting in and out of trouble twice in the first three innings, Maine outpitched reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter. Maine allowed two hits in the first and none after that, pitching 5 1-3 shutout innings, striking out five and walking four.

“I went to him before the game, and I said, ‘I wouldn’t want anybody else but you. Let’s go!“’ Lo Duca said.

When it was time to come out, he was circled on the mound like a conquering hero: Reyes patted him on the back and David Wright patted him on the shoulder. Maine acknowledged the standing ovation with only a small wave of his left hand as he walked to the dugout.

“I try not to put too much pressure on myself,” Maine said. “I just try to pound the strike zone and get them to put it in play.”

Chad Bradford, Guillermo Mota, Aaron Heilman and Billy Wagner finished. Wagner gave up a two-run, two-out double to So Taguchi in the ninth before retiring David Eckstein on a game-ending grounder.

In a rematch of Game 2 starters who didn’t get decisions, Carpenter was nearly as good, just not enough on this night. He gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings, dropping to 0-1 in his two starts.

Shea Stadium was rocking, with the volume on the speakers turned up and the scoreboard flashing quotes from Mets players praising the fans. In the first Game 6 at the ballpark since the famous comeback against Boston that was capped by Mookie Wilson’s grounder through Bill Buckner’s legs, the spirit of ’86 was invoked on several signs.

“Uno, dos, adios,” read another sign.

The Mets even wore their traditional pinstripes, just like in their championship years of 1969 and 1986.

“I looked in the stands a couple of times and it looked like a college students’ section. People didn’t sit down the whole game,” Lo Duca said. “That’s an unbelievable feeling. And when something goes your way, it’s electric.”

Maine, a 25-year-old right-hander, was obtained in January’s dump of Kris Benson to Baltimore. In a tense time, he provided the cool of a veteran — on days he pitches, he usually sits by himself in the clubhouse before the game doing Sudoku puzzles.

He got in trouble in the first and third innings, but came up with the big outs, perhaps the biggest of his life. St. Louis had runners at second and third with one out in the first, before Maine fanned Jim Edmonds on three pitches and loaded the bases by hitting Juan Encarnacion. Lo Duca saved a run with a backhand stop of a pitch in the dirt on a 1-2 pitch to Scott Rolen, who then flied out.

Eckstein walked leading off the third and stole second, but Maine struck out Scott Spiezio and, after intentionally walking Albert Pujols, retired Edmonds on a flyout and struck out Encarnacion.

That left St. Louis 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Maine didn’t allow any runners past first after that.

Reyes’ home run, a no-doubt-about-it drive to right-center, came when Carpenter left a cutter over the plate on his third pitch. It was Reyes’ first in postseason play — his first since Sept. 10.

“As Jose goes, we go,” Randolph said. “His energy is infectious.”

It was the first leadoff homer Carpenter allowed since Atlanta’s Marcus Giles on July 4.

“That’s a huge lift — get the crowd in the game,” Maine said.

New York used small ball to double its lead in the fourth. Carlos Beltran singled into left field leading off, advanced on a one-out single by Wright — just his second hit in 19 at-bats in the LCS. Green then hit an opposite-field liner into left.

Bradford got Rolen to hit into an inning-ending double play in the sixth, and Mota retired pinch-hitter Chris Duncan on an inning-ending double play in the seventh. Then, following two-out singles by pinch-hitter and Reyes in the bottom half, Lo Duca got the big single against Looper.

Notes:@ Reyes had a Met-record six leadoff homers during the regular season. ... The Cardinals were 1-for-8 overall with runners in scoring position, dropping to 9-for-46 (.196) in the series.