A wild beginning and an even wilder finish bookended the longest nine-inning game in National League playoff history Thursday night as the New York Mets took control in the National League Championship Series.
New York outlasted St. Louis 6-5 in 3 hours 59 minutes in Game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead to Shea Stadium, taking advantage of Rick Ankiel’s crazy arm and Will Clark’s leaden glove.
Ankiel lasted only two-thirds of an inning in another out-of-control start, while Clark booted a grounder off Robin Ventura’s bat in the ninth to set up the winning run.
“These games are too nerve-wracking,” said catcher Mike Piazza, who homered in the third for the Mets. The sentiment was seconded by reliever John Franco, who gave up the tying runs in the bottom of the eighth but was credited with the win.
“My nerves can’t take too much more of this,” Franco said. “My stomach, my nerves and my nails . . . all gone.”
Clark booted a grounder off the bat of Ventura leading off the ninth, putting the eventual winning run on. After pinch runner Joe McEwing was bunted to second, rookie Jay Payton slapped a run-scoring single to center, racing to third when center-fielder Jim Edmonds let the ball get past him for another error.
“Jay didn’t have any hits going into that at-bat,” Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. “But I know he believed deep down in his heart, right down to his toes, that he was the best man in that situation.”
The Mets couldn’t add on, however, and with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Edmonds coaxed a walk off closer Armando Benitez to give the Cardinals one last chance. Benitez then fanned Carlos Hernandez to end it.
At the outset, Ankiel’s pitches were so far off the plate an octopus couldn’t have reached them.
Ankiel insisted his problems were mechanical, not mental.
“It’s so obvious, it’s a joke,” he said. “I just couldn’t finish a pitch.”
It was familiar territory for Ankiel, who struggled in Game 1 of the division series, throwing five wild pitches in one inning to set a modern-day record. Thursday he began by delivering a fastball over the head of leadoff hitter Timo Perez, which brought a loud cheer of approval in Busch Stadium.
But once Ankiel began to prove the potential beanball was just the first in a series of misdirected pitches, the cheers quickly turned into groans. He walked three men and threw two wild pitches in the inning, yielding a pair of runs on Todd Zeile’s sacrifice fly and an RBI double by Benny Agbayani.
That was enough for La Russa, who replaced Ankiel with rookie right-hander Britt Reames. Ankiel tied an LCS record with two wild pitches in one inning.
The Cardinals bounced back from a 3-1 deficit to tie it in the fifth, but the Mets broke through with two in the eighth. Perez, who played in Japan last year, scored from first on Edgardo Alfonzo’s single.
“I don’t know where [Perez] came from, but I’m glad he’s on our team,” Ventura said. “If the Hiroshima Carp don’t want him, we do.”
Zeile singled home an insurance run off Dave Veres to make it 5-3, but the Cards scored two in the bottom of the inning on a wild pitch by Franco and J.D. Drew’s RBI double.
