Saturday Seasons: 2006: Mets Book a Room at Heartbreak Hotel

The Mets took a step forward in 2005 but General Manager Omar Minaya knew he needed to make changes if they expected to take the next step for the 2006 season.

Minaya overhauled the roster for a second consecutive time and put together a team that went on to win the NL East but came up short of a World Series appearance in heart breaking fashion.

The Mets were moving on from 37-year old and future Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza, who became a free agent so Minaya engineered a trade with the Florida Marlins to acquire catcher Paul LoDuca.

A second deal with the Marlins netted left hand power hitting first baseman Carlos Delgado and Minaya signed hard throwing left hander and future Hall of Famer Billy Wagner as his closer, replacing Braden Looper.

In January, 2006, Minaya acquired John Maine from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Kris Benson and he added 40-year old Orlando Hernandez in May to round out the starting rotation.

Minaya continued to reshape the roster by trading outfielder Mike Cameron to San Diego for outfielder Xavier Nady (who would only last half a season, more on that later) and used the free agent market to acquire Jose Valentin as his second-baseman to go along with Delgado and their young infield core of shortstop Jose Reyes and third-baseman David Wright.

With future Hall of Famer Carlos Beltran and Cliff Floyd as holdovers from the 2005 season, the Mets felt they were ready to meet the challenge of overtaking the Atlanta Braves, who had captured the NL East for 11 consecutive seasons.

The Mets started fast in 2006.

On April 14th, the Mets scored a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers to cap off a 7-game winning streak that left them at 8-1. Three days later, the Mets beat the Braves at Shea, 4-3 to go 10-2 and give Pedro Martinez his 200th career win.

By the end of April, the Mets were 16-8 and had a six game lead over the Phillies and Braves in the NL East.

The month of May featured seven walk off wins, including one against the Yankees.

In game one of the “Subway Series” at Shea, the immortal Geremi Gonzalez gave up four, first inning runs but the Mets came right back with three against Yankees starter Randy Johnson.

The game was tied at six when Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera was brought in to pitch the bottom of the ninth.

LoDuca lined a one out double to put the winning run in scoring position. After Beltran struck out, Delgado was intentionally walked to bring Wright to the plate.

On a 2-2 pitch, Wright lined a ball over the head of center fielder Johnny Damon to score LoDuca with the winning run and the Mets had an exciting 7-6 win.

The Mets lost the next game but won the series finale to set up a big series at Shea against the Phillies who were three games back. The opener proved to be one of the seminal games of the season.

The Mets trailed 8-5 in the bottom of the eighth but rallied to tie the game on a two run home run by Reyes.

Phillies reliever Ryan Madson entered the game in the bottom of the ninth and would remarkably pitch seven-plus innings as the game entered the 16th.

Mets reliever Darren Oliver capped off four scoreless innings by retiring the Phillies in the top of the 16th to set up some walk off heroics in the bottom half.

Beltran was the lead off hitter in the bottom of the 16th. On Madson’s 105th pitch, the Mets switch-hitter lined a high fastball deep into right field for a dramatic 9-8 win.

An eight game winning streak, capped off by a three game sweep of the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on June 15th, gave the Mets a 42-23 record. The Mets now had a 9.5 game lead over the Phillies and a 13 game lead over the struggling Braves.

On June 22nd, the Mets beat the Reds, 6-2 at Shea to post a ten game lead in the NL East that would never revert to single digits for the remainder of the season.

The Mets ended the nominal first half with a 7-6 win over the Marlins at Shea. Wright’s three run home run in the bottom of the eighth was the key blow as the Mets entered the All Star break with a 53-36 record and a 12 game lead over the second place Phillies.

The Mets opened the second half with a three game series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

After splitting the first two games, the series finale provided another highlight to what was becoming a magical season.

In the top of the sixth, 16 batters came to the plate against three Cubs pitchers as the Mets scored a franchise record 11 runs (in 2016, the Mets set a new mark with a 12-run inning against the San Francisco Giants). Keyed by home runs from Floyd, Beltran and Wright, the Mets turned a 5-2 deficit into a 13-5 lead.

The Mets ended July with a four game winning streak, that included a three game sweep of the Braves at Turner Field. It was becoming more and more apparent, that barring an epic collapse, it was just a matter of time before the Mets were going to win the NL East.

There was a down moment in July. The Mets lost reliable reliever Duaner Sanchez when he suffered a season ending shoulder injury in a taxi cab accident in Miami, Florida.

Things were looking up, but the Sanchez injury forced Minaya to seek more pitching. On July 31st, Nady was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for right hander Roberto Hernandez and left hander Oliver Perez.

The Mets ended the dog days of August by winning 11 of 12 and they entered September with an 82-50 record and a 15.5 game lead over the second place Phils.

On Monday, September 18th, the Mets hosted the Marlins at Shea with a chance to clinch the division.

The Mets built a 4-0 lead and Shea was in a frenzy. When Josh Willingham flied out to left fielder Cliff Floyd for the final out, the Mets had won the NL East for the first time since 1988.

Unfortunately, the Mets were banged up as they entered the post season.

Pedro Martinez suffered a hip injury in mid-September and Orlando Hernandez tore a calf muscle the day before the National League Division Series began. Both were unavailable for the post season and that left Manager Willie Randolph with a “patch-work” pitching staff.

Randolph tabbed rookie John Maine to start game one against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the right hander benefited from the Mets defense in the top of the second inning.

With two on and nobody out, Russell Martin lined a single into the right field corner and it appeared the Dodgers were about to take the lead. Mets right fielder Shawn Green got to the ball quickly and relayed it to second baseman Jose Valentin who fired home. Jeff Kent, who was on second, got a late start and was tagged out at the plate by LoDuca. J.D. Drew, who was on first, also tried to score and LoDuca tagged him out to complete a most unusual double play.

Marlon Anderson’s RBI double scored Martin to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead but it could’ve been much worse without the stellar defensive play by the Mets. Home runs by Delgado and Floyd in the fourth gave the Mets a 2-1 lead.

The Dodgers scored three runs in the top of the 7th to tie the game at four but an RBI single by Delgado and an RBI double by Wright gave the Mets a 6-4 lead.

L.A. added a run in the ninth, but Wagner struck out Nomar Garciaparra to give the Mets a 6-5 win in game one.

The Mets took game two, 4-1 behind six scoreless from Tom Glavine and then clinched the series with a 9-5 win in game three at Dodger Stadium.

The Mets entered the National League Championship Series as a heavy favorite against the St. Louis Cardinals, whom they had beaten 4 of 6 times during the regular season.

The NLCS began on October 12th at Shea. With over 56,000 fans on hand for game one, Tom Glavine tossed seven scoreless innings and Carlos Beltran provided the only offense of the game with a two run home run in the sixth inning as the Mets scored a nifty 2-0 win.

Game two is where the loss of Martinez and Hernandez reared its ugly head.

The Mets scored three runs in the first inning on Carlos Delgado’s three run home run but Maine could not hold off the Cardinals who seemed to never go away.

It was a 4-2 game when Jim Edmonds’ two run home run off of Maine in the third tied the game at four.

The Mets added single runs in the fifth on Delgado’s second home run of the game and an RBI doubly by LoDuca in the sixth for a 6-4 lead, but the Cards came right back in the seventh against Guillermo Mota and tied the game on a two run triple by Scott Spiezio.

The game was still tied in the ninth and Randolph went to Wagner. Light hitting So Taguchi (who had 19 career home runs) led off the inning and snapped the tie with a line drive home run into the Cardinals bullpen in left field to stun the sell out crowd at Shea.

St. Louis added two more runs to make it a three run lead and in a portent of things to come, Adam Wainwright got the final two outs as the Cardinals scored a 7-6 win to even the series at a game apiece.

Game three at Busch Stadium was a real snooze fest for Mets fans as Jeff Suppan gave up three hits in eight scoreless innings as the Cards went up two games to one with a 5-0 win.

The Mets offense came alive in game four as Carlos Beltran slammed two home runs in a 12-5 rout that evened the series at two games apiece and guaranteed a return trip to Shea.

Game five was delayed a day by rain but it didn’t help the Mets who lost 4-2 and now had their backs against the wall heading to Shea for game six.

Reyes led off game six with a home run and despite Wagner giving up two runs in the ninth, the Mets held on for a 4-2 win that set up a 7th game showdown for the NL pennant.

The erratic Oliver Perez got the start for the Mets and was pitching well, but so was Cardinals starter Jeff Suppan.

The game was tied at one in the top of the sixth when the Cardinals had Jim Edmonds on first with one out and future Hall of Famer Scott Rolen at the plate.

Rolen took the first pitch from Perez and hit a deep drive to left field that appeared to be a two run home run that would’ve given the Cardinals the lead, but Mets left fielder Endy Chavez made a memorable play that would’ve gone down as one of the greatest defensive plays in franchise history had they gone on to win the game.

Chavez perfectly timed his jump and with his glove over the left field wall, he robbed Rolen of a two run home run. Edmonds never thought the ball would be caught, but Chavez threw the ball to second-baseman Valentin who relayed to first for what seemed like a momentum changing double play.

The Mets looked to capitalize on that momentum in their half of the sixth.

With one out, Delgado walked and a throwing error by Rolen put runners on second and third. Shawn Green was intentionally walked to load the bases and Shea was rocking, but Suppan struck out Valentin and then got Chavez to fly out to snuff out the threat.

Aaron Heilman pitched a scoreless eighth and with Wagner struggling in his previous two outings (5 earned runs in 1.2 IP), Randolph elected to stay with his right hander to pitch the ninth.

With one out, Rolen singled on a 3-2 pitch to bring up Yadier Molina who etched himself into the infamous history of the Mets.

Molina jumped on the first pitch from Heilman and lifted a deep fly ball to left field that cleared the wall for a crushing two run home run to silence the sell out crowd at Shea.

The last of the ninth brought even more heartbreak.

Valentin and Chavez singled to put two on with nobody out. Cliff Floyd struck out (there was some second guessing that Floyd should’ve bunted) and Reyes lined out to center field. After LoDuca walked, Beltran came up with the bases loaded against Adam Wainwright.

Wainwright threw a first pitch fastball for a called strike. The second pitch was a curve ball that Beltran fouled off so he got behind in the count, 0-2.

The next pitch provided one of the most devastating heartbreak moments in franchise history. Wainwright threw a 12 to 6 curve ball that Beltran watched go by for a called third strike that left the crowd in stunned silence.

A season that generated so much promise had come to a sudden end.

Many of the old Brooklyn Dodger fans had become Met fans and the same refrain that dominated the disappointments and heartbreak of those days was once again en vogue: “Wait till next year.”