- Author Stanley Cohen in The Man in the Crowd (1981)The player names and pitcher names in the box score above can be clicked and their comprehensive single season & career statistics will be shown. In the spring of 1987, the Mets were still breathing a sigh of relief that they had not been forced to face Mike Scott a third time in the playoffs. Carter said that he believed the Mets could beat him, but he did not want to have to prove it.[fn]Ibid. On December 10, 1982, the Mets lost patience and traded Scott to the Astros for outfielder Danny Heep—and ironically the two would face one another in the 1986 championship series. The play was crucial as after nine innings the score was tied, 1–1, and Ryan was removed for a pinch hitter after throwing 134 pitches. According to Scott, “I went down there without having picked up a ball for probably two months. The resilient Astros were able to retake the lead in the seventh following a throwing error by Mets third baseman Ray Knight, a former Astro. I’m just thankful that I’ve had a chance to come up with some big hits that kept us in the ballgame, and let somebody else win it.”[fn]Malcolm Moran, “Players; Strawberry Handles Pressure,” New York Times, October 16, 1986.[/fn]. The Astros now entered the bottom of the 16th trailing 7–4. Perhaps it was appropriate that the Mets were the nemesis for Houston in 1986. With Lopez obviously tiring and a switch-hitter followed by two left-handed hitters due for the Mets, Lanier elected to bring in the Astros only lefty reliever, Jim Calhoun. Carter gained a bit of revenge for Game Three in which Kerfeld snagged a sharply hit ball from the catcher and appeared to point the ball at Carter before making the throw to first base. But on October 15, 1986, the Houston Astrodome was at the center of the baseball world. Game Six was scheduled for Houston, and most in baseball, including many of the Mets players, assumed that the Astros would roll on to win Game Seven if they could somehow manage a victory in Game Six at home. It all came down to just one call by the umpire on a single pitch.”[fn]Paul Attner, “It Was in the Cards for the Mets,” The Sporting News, October 27, 1986, 6.[/fn]. This type of inferiority complex gripped Houston in the aftermath of the loss. And it was easy, real easy.”[fn]Rob Neyer, “Great Scott’s Power Burned Brightest in ’86,” ESPN.com, October 11, 2001, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn? New York Mets beat Houston Astros (7-6). Billy Hatcher summed up the pain many felt, explaining, “Any time you play a one-run game, a sixteen-inning game, it just eats you up. While all telecasts of World Series games starting with 1975 are accounted for and exist, the LCS is still a spotty situation through the late 1970s: As previously mentioned, from 1969 until 1983, the Major League Baseball television contract allowed a local TV station in the market of each competing team to also carry the LCS games. Houston was up 3–0, but the botched squeeze play squelched what might have been a bigger inning, and the crowd was uneasy. At age 24, Strawberry had learned to handle pressure beginning with expectations as a first round draft pick, asserting, “It’s nothing to hide from, or feel bad about. Since the memorable 1986 season, the Mets won the National League pennant in 2000 but were defeated by the Yankees in five games, while Houston gained the 2005 pennant before being swept by the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. This is all that likely remains of anything from that third game of the Orioles-Twins series. Gary Carter proclaimed that Scott was the “main piece of unfinished business” for the Mets in 1987. On October 15, 1986, Game 6 of the NLCS ran so long (lasting for 16 innings, 5 hours and 29 minutes), it bumped up against the start time of Game 7 of the ALCS (also on ABC). Initially safe at third, Doran’s hard slide carried him off the base, and he was called out. Finding no evidence that Scott had tampered with the ball, Harvey tossed it back to the pitcher, who proceeded to strike out Carter. Does he know that Mike Scott is not of this world? Ray Knight now stepped to the plate, and after two called strikes, the count was even at 2–2. (accessed January 19, 2014). Cronkite School at ASU With the series even at one game each, the teams headed to New York. . . Whether one believed that Scott enjoyed super powers, employed an emery board to doctor the ball, or simply possessed two superior pitches, Scott dominated the Mets with a 3–1 victory. But Ashby missed Ojeda’s fastball. On October 15, 1986, the New York Mets led the Houston Astros three games to two in the NLCS after an extra-inning victory in Game Five at Shea Stadium. The Mets struck out 57 times and had the lowest team batting average, .189, of any National League Championship Series winner. The 1986 Mets, their tenacity tested by the Astros, are no underdogs but they sure are easy to love.”[fn]“New York, of the National League,” New York Times, October 17, 1986. Bass expected the sliders and worked the count to 3–2, but he swung at the sixth slider and missed. Meanwhile, Davey Johnson called on his stellar bullpen to keep the Astros in check. To build the bridge between Games Six and Seven, the Astros gave the starting assignment to 17-game winner Bob Knepper. Rick Aguilera pitched three innings, surrendering one hit and no runs, but the Mets entered the top of the ninth inning still trailing by three. Earlier in the season, Craig suggested that the movement on Scott’s pitches was due to scuffing the ball—a charge that the Mets would parrot during the League Championship Series. He is the author or editor of five books on baseball and sports history, including “The Baseball Film in Postwar America: A Critical Study, 1948–1962” (McFarland, 2011). October 15, 1986, The National Pastime: Baseball in the Space Age (Houston, 2014), Read our SABR Games Project story on Game Six of the 1986 NLCS, by Rory Costello. That he is secretly Ace Astro right-hander from another planet?”[fn]Mike Downey, “Great Scott! This article was published in the The National Pastime: Baseball in the Space Age (Houston, 2014). [/fn], Brocklander’s decision gave a lift to the Mets. Seeking to place the Astrodome within some historical and cultural perspective, Adam Chandler wrote in The Atlantic, “But to many in Texas and elsewhere, the Astrodome means to Houston what a 16th-century Spanish church means to Puerto Rico, what the first lighthouse means to Martha’s Vineyard, and what the very first permanent English settlement in America, Jamestown means to Virginia.” Chandler concludes, “The Astrodome was iconic not only because it was a landmark structure, but because it was also an unconventional, imaginative project created in an era of great ambition.”[fn]Adam Chandler, “The Sad Fate (but Historic Legacy) of the Houston Astrodome,” The Atlantic, November 2013, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/the-sad-fate-but-historic-legacy-of-the-houston-astrodome/281269 (accessed January 26, 2014). In terms of sport, Houston was the fourth largest city in the country, but had no championships in the major team sports of basketball, football, or baseball—unless one counts the Houston Oiler American Football League championships in 1960 and 1961. New York Mets beat Boston Red Sox (6-5). The game would end four hours and forty five minutes … A man is innocent until proven guilty. It admired the Yankees, but loved the underdog like the old Dodgers. The trade to Houston initially did little to alter Scott’s career. On October 15, 1986, the New York Mets led the Houston Astros three games to two in the NLCS after an extra-inning victory in Game Five at Shea Stadium. The game began with aging veteran Nolan Ryan retiring the first 10 Mets in order, striking out five, but in the fifth, the Mets drove Ryan from the mound. Oct 15, 1986, Attendance: 45718, Time of Game: 4:42. Veteran Davey Lopes pinch hit for Calhoun and worked a walk. Doran followed with a single to center, bringing up Hatcher, whose home run in the 14th had again tied the game. In using McDowell for such an extended stint, it was clear that Johnson was gambling on winning Game Six and avoiding Scott at all cost. Game Six was scheduled for Houston, and most in baseball, including many of the Mets players, assumed that the Astros would roll on to win Game Seven if they could somehow manage a victory in Game Six at home. When the game ended he was down to his last pinch hitter. After McDowell was lifted for a pinch hitter, Johnson called upon his left-handed relief ace, Jesse Orosco, to save the game for the Mets. Two of the most exasperating losses in Houston history were the National League Championship Series of 1980 and 1986. At a meeting on the mound, Hernandez berated Carter and Orosco for employing too many fastballs. Visit Baseball-Reference.com for the complete box score, play-by-play, and win probability The Mets now had runners on first and second with only one out. Disappointment thy name is Houston. Contact SABR, https://sabr.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Knepper-Bob.png, /wp-content/uploads/2020/02/sabr_logo.png, The Greatest Game Ever Played? The ceremonial first pitch was assigned to Judge Jon Lindsay, a member of the Harris County Commission. Feeney scheduled a meeting for the Mets to present their evidence, but the Feeny concluded that he could find no evidence of tampering, observing, “As far as we know Mr. Scott is not guilty of any infraction. Unfortunately, the Astros lost 17 of 19 to the Rangers, on the way to a disastrous 111 losses, including the last 15 games of the year, the third consecutive season in which Houston lost over 100 games.
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