It’s been about 30 years since the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals both played in the National League East. When the National League Central was established in 1994, the Cardinals found a new home in the standings, and the historic rivalry between the two teams was forever altered…but not erased. The Cardinals were the very first team the Mets ever played (4/11/1962), and in the decades since, the two teams have faced off in a number of meaningful games.
Due to the current approach to the season schedule, the Mets and Cardinals will play their last game at Citi Field today, and the two teams will end their season series early in May. At KinersKorner.com, we figured this would be a good opportunity to take a look back at some of the best games between these historically fierce competitors.
Ranking games can be a tricky endeavor, especially with two teams that have now played each other 776 times (after Sunday's extra-inning come from behind win!), so there have been plenty of opportunities for some classics. Before we get to The 5, let’s take a look at some rather honorable mentions:
7/6/62, Polo Grounds – A day of firsts and lasts, as Rod Kanehl hits the first ever Mets first grand slam, Gil Hodges hits last career home run in a 10-3 win.
6/7/63, Polo Grounds – A walk-off home run by Hall of Famer Duke Snider, the 399th home run of his career, wins it 3-2.
8/7/63, Polo Grounds – The Mets win 7-3, as Jim Hickman becomes second player in National League history to hit for natural cycle.
7/9/64, Shea Stadium – Frank Thomas hits the first walk-off home run at Shea Stadium, and the Mets win 4-3.
9/3/65, Sportsman’s Park – Jim Hickman becomes the first Mets player to hit 3 home runs in a game, and the Mets win 6-3.
9/24/69, Shea Stadium – The Mets win 6-0 to clinch the first ever NL East championship.
9/11/74, Shea Stadium – In a marathon game of 25 innings, the Mets fall just short, 4-3.
6/20/83, Shea Stadium – Keith Hernandez’s first home run for the Mets comes against his former team, and the Mets take the second game of a doubleheader, 6-4.
4/24/86, Shea Stadium – Howard Johnson’s 9th inning pinch-hit 2-run home run ties it, and a George Foster single gives the Mets the win in the first game of an early-season 4 game series. The Mets would go on to the series, after which Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog announces that the Mets will win the division.
10/11/00, Busch Stadium – In 6-2 win – Game one of the NLCS, the Mets score early and then hold on for a 6-2 win. After a big hit by Mike Piazza, Mets coach John Stearns announces “The monster is out of the cage!”
10/16/00, Shea Stadium – Mike Hampton hurls a complete game shutout in 7-0 victory in Game 4 of the NLCS, sending the Mets to the World Series.
10/19/06, Shea Stadium – Despite Endy Chavez’s iconic home run-robbing catch, the Cards clinch the NL Pennant as the Mets fall short, 3-1.
4/17/10, Busch Stadium II – In their fourth ever game of at least 20 innings, the Mets get their first victory, 2-1. Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez gets the win, and Mike Pelfrey, normally a Mets starter, gets the save. On the other side, normally and outfielder/third baseman, takes the loss for St. Louis.
With so many special games between these two teams, it was a challenge to narrow it down. Alas, this is called The 5 for a reason, so here they are…
Best Mets-Cardinals Games
5. 8/22/06, Shea Stadium – This one started out as anything but a classic, as the Mets were down 7-1 heading into the bottom of the 5th. Their lone run to that point was a Carlos Delgado solo home run, the 399th home run of his career. The mood changed quickly when Delgado hit his 400th home run, this time a grand slam, and the Mets were on their way back. A 6th-inning RBI groundout by Jose Reyes pulled the Mets within 1, and set the stage for heroics from "the other" Carlos. In the bottom of the 9th, with one out, Paul LoDuca hit a single and Carlos Beltran followed with a line drive home run to right field to send the Mets and their fans home happy.
4. 10/1/85, Busch Stadium – The began the last week of the season trailing the first place Cardinals by three games. The Mets went into St. Louis for a pivotal 3-game second-to-last series of the season. In this first game, Ron Darling squared off against eventual 21-game winner, John Tudor, in a memorable pitchers duel. Darling pitched 9 shutout innings, giving up 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5. Tudor matched him, going 10 scoreless innings of his own, giving up 6 hits and 3 walks with 7 strikeouts. After that it was a battle of lefty relievers, Jesse Orosco for the Mets and Ken Dayley for the Cardinals. With the score still tied at 0, Darryl Strawberry launched a 1-1 curve ball off the right field scoreboard, an estimated 440 feet away from home plate for a solo home run. It was Strawberry's 28th, and most important, homer of the season. Jesse Orosco held onto the lead in the bottom of the 11th, and the Mets postseason hopes lived on for another day.
3. 4/1/96, Shea Stadium – The Mets 1996 season only yielded 71 wins, and few were more exciting than their 7-6 Opening Day victory against the Cardinals at Shea. The Mets fell behind 6-0, with starting pitcher Bobby Jones unable to get through 4 innings. However, beginning with a Todd Hundley 2-run home run in the bottom of the 4th, the Mets clawed their way back. Hundley would hit 40 more that year. A solo home run from Bernard Gilkey in the 6th inning of his Mets debut, made it 6-3. In the top of the 7th, St. Louis rallied but failed to score when Mets rookie shortstop Rey Ordonez, in his major league debut, threw out Cardinals runner Royce Clayton at home from his knees to end the inning. The Mets would go on to rally in the bottom of the 7th and take the lead. John pitched a 1-2-3 9th for the save.
2. 4/9/85, Shea Stadium – After a 90-win second place finish in 1984, the Mets seemed to solidify their lineup when they traded for perennial All-Star catcher, Gary Carter. With that move, the Mets came into the 1985 season with high expectations, and on Opening Day, they faced off against the Cardinals, another team who was expected to contend. Behind starting pitcher Dwight Gooden, and RBIs from Keith Hernandez, Howard Johnson, Rafael Santana, and George Foster, the Mets took a 5-2 lead into the 7th. However, Gooden put a couple runners on in the top of the 7th and reliever Doug Sisk couldn't keep them from scoring. Sisk was the culprit again in the 9th inning when he walked Jack Clark with the bases loaded to tie the game at 5.
In the top of the 10th, Tom Gorman held the Cards scoreless, despite giving up a 20out double to Ozzie Smith. Then in the bottom of the inning, the Mets faced Neil Allen, whom the Cardinals obtained in exchange for Keith Hernandez in 1983. Allen was able to strike out Hernandez to lead off the inning. Carter followed by hitting a breaking pitch from Allen over the left field fence, just beyond the reach of a leaping Lonnie Smith. Despite the cold weather (around 45 degrees at game time), the crowd of nearly 47,000 went home with a warm feeling, and an exciting season to look forward to.
1. 6/1/12, Citi Field – 2012 was the Mets 51st season. At that point, they were one of only two teams (the San Diego Padres were the other) to have never thrown a no-hitter. There were many Mets pitchers who had thrown no-hitters, they just did it for other teams. In fact, to that point, there were 7 former Mets who went on to throw no-hitters with other teams: Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Mike Scott, Dwight Gooden, David Cone, Hideo Nomo (who threw his second career no-hitter with the Red Sox, 3 seasons after he pitched for the Mets), and Philip Humber. For a franchise best-known for producing high quality pitchers, it was somewhere between baffling and humorous that the Mets had never thrown a no-no. On this Friday night though, thanks to starting pitcher Johan Santana, that would all change. Interestingly, it didn't really start out that way for Santana. The southpaw struggled with his command early, walking 3 Cardinals batters in the first 4 innings. Additionally, Santana was not too far removed from major shoulder surgery, and had just come off a 96-pitch complete game in his previous outing, so not many were expecting him to go deep into the game. Let's just say they got more than expected.
After a leadoff walk in the 4th inning, Santana started to find his rhythm. In the top of the sixth inning, Carlos Beltran, making his first return to Citi Field as a former Mets player, hit a line shot down the line that appeared to hit the foul line chalk. Adrian Johnson believed the ball to be foul. Despite the fact that he was in the minority on this one, he was the umpire, so his opinion is the one that mattered most; foul ball it was. Beltran ended up grounding out to third base. With one out in the top of the seventh, and the Mets leading 5-0, Yadier Molina hit a hard line drive to deep left field, where left fielder Mike Baxter made a one-handed grab before crashing into the fence. On the play, Baxter separated his collarbone and fractured some rib cartilage. Also on the play, Baxter caught the ball and kept Santana's no-hit bid alive.
By the end of that inning, Santana had thrown seven hitless, and had also thrown 107 pitches. Santana gave up a 2-out walk to Rafael Furcal in the top of the eighth before getting Beltran to pop up to second to end the inning. Then, in the ninth, with the Mets up 8-0, Santana went to work against the middle of the Cardinals lineup. Matt Holliday lined out to center on the first pitch of the inning. Allen Craig followed with a fly out to left. Third baseman David Freese came up next. With Molina, a notable Mets killer, on deck, there was even more pressure to get end the game at Freese. Santana's first three pitches were all balls. Freese took strike one, then swung and missed at strike 2. Santana's next pitch, a changeup, dipped out of the strike zone at the last moment. No matter though, Freese swung at it and came up empty. Mets catcher Josh Thole caught the ball, showed it to the umpire, and when strike three was signaled, the celebration began. Johan Santana started the evening without his best stuff. Then, 134 pitches, 32 batters, and no hits later, Santana had made Mets history.
The history between the Mets and the Cardinals spans almost 800 games, over 60 years, in 6 different ballparks, and has culminated in countless memorable moments.
What are some of your favorites? Please comment below.