15 years ago to this very date, the Cardinals and Mets played in a classic, nail-biting game with a trip to the World Series on the line.
It was Game 7 of the NLCS. The winner would go to Detroit to play the Tigers in the World Series. The loser would go home.
The Cardinals had been flying under the radar that whole postseason after going 83-78 on the season, somehow managing to win the NL Central. The Mets on the other hand, had dominated all season long, tying the Yankees with an MLB-best 97-65 record. They were heavily favored to beat St. Louis
“We went in there knowing that the expectations were that we were not going to succeed, but our guys were bound and determined that they were going to play hard and make it a series,” said then-Cards pitching coach Dave Duncan.
After winning Game 6 at home, the Mets seemed to have the momentum on their side. And they kept it going early, scoring in the first inning off of Cards’ starter Jeff Suppan.
St. Louis tied it an inning later. Fast forward to the sixth, Scott Rolen came to the plate with one out and Jim Edmonds on first. Perhaps the momentum was turning in the Cards’ direction. Rolen hit a shot to left that looked like it was going to clear the wall. But Endy Chavez jumped into the air and brought it down, robbing Rolen and doubling off Edmonds at first.
And in the bottom of the sixth, Suppan faced a bases-loaded jam with one out.
“I mean you talk about a test,” said Tony La Russa, the Cards’ manager at the time. “Well then you see Soup, and you go holy smokes look at this guy dealing!”
Suppan struck out Jose Valentin, but the threat was far from through, as Chavez came to the plate.
“After making such a tremendous play I mean, probably one of the best catches I’ve ever seen, I felt he had a lot of energy, so I wanted to see what he was going to do,” said Suppan. “So I had two choices, I thought. I had up above his hands, and I had down off the plate.”
Suppan managed to get Chavez to pop out and end the threat.
“I guess it was in the right spot to where it was good enough for him to swing at it, and he popped it up,” Suppan added.
In the top of the ninth, the game remained tied when Yadier Molina came to the plate with a runner on. Molina had hit just .216 during the ‘06 regular season, but if Chavez proved to be an unlikely hero, perhaps there was room for one more.
Sure enough, Molina hit one out to left. This time, it was far beyond Chavez’ reach, and it cleared the wall, putting St. Louis ahead 3-1 and quieting the crowd at Shea Stadium.
Still, it was far from over. Adam Wainwright, who was in the closer’s role after Jason Isringhausen went down, faced a bases-loaded jam of his own, this time with two outs and Carlos Beltran, who had battered the Cardinals in the 2004 NLCS with the Astros and again in this series.
“When you watch that Game 7 and you’re a little kid, you go out in the backyard the next day and you’re replaying it. ‘Adam Wainwright pitching, bottom of the ninth, two outs.’ You never think Carlos Beltran’s up to bat. You’re hoping it’s somebody that’s not quite that good.”
Wainwright went ahead on Beltran 0-2, putting the Cards to within a strike of their second World Series in the last three years, and a chance at redemption after being swept by the Red Sox in ‘04. Wainwright and Molina today, are lauded for constantly being on the same page when it comes to pitching. The future Cardinal ace had followed Molina’s suggestions for pitches to throw on the first two. This time, he made up his mind before checking with his battery mate.
“I said I am going to just throw the nastiest curveball I’ve ever thrown,” Wainwright said. “And if he hits it, I’ll tip my cap but if not, we’re going to the series.”
And what followed was in fact the nastiest curveball Wainwright has ever thrown, even to this day. Beltran froze and watched it go by for a called strike three to send St. Louis to their 17th World Series in franchise history.
“That’s gotta be one of the greatest games of all time,” said Wainwright. “I got to live out a dream. That’s the only way you can put it. Every backyard fantasy I’ve ever had about baseball took place right there in Game 7.”
Then six years later, Beltran would sign with the Cardinals after twice being kept out of the World Series, and in an ironic twist of fate, Beltran would go to the World Series in 2013 as a member of the team that had crushed his dreams the previous decade; the Cardinals.
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