The author raced home to watch his Mets win

	Jesse Orosco allowed two runs before celebrating the Mets' 7-6, 16-inning victory over the Astros in Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS. AP
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By Pete McEntegart

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I actually didn't get to see half of the greatest game I ever saw. It was 1986 and my beloved New York Mets were set to play the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the NLCS. Mets fans were approaching the game as a must-win because the Astros had Mike Scott ready to pitch Game 7; Scott (and his sandpaper?) had dominated the Mets twice already in the series.

Alas, I had a date with The Shaggy D.A. My senior English class at Manhattan's Regis High School had booked a field trip to a new musical about the Shroud of Turin starring Dean Jones, Disney's original prosecuting pooch. (It was not a hit.) By the time the shroud of radio silence was lifted, the Mets were trailing 3-0 in the late innings.

So now I had to hustle home, but since I grew up on Long Island I faced a lengthy commute. When my train pulled out of Penn Station, the Mets were coming to the plate in the top of the ninth, still down 3-0. Another passenger had a small portable TV, so a crowd of us gathered around. Lenny Dykstra led off the ninth with a triple to give us something to cheer about. Two more hits brought in two runs and finally knocked out starter Bob Knepper, spurring high fives all around the car.

Astros closer Dave Smith couldn't shut the door, allowing two walks and a game-tying sacrifice fly to Ray Knight. That made it 3-3 going into the bottom of the ninth. The top of the frame had blessedly filled up my entire 40-minute train ride, enabling me to sprint home (I covered the distance in 87 seconds at top speed, with a backpack) before the Astros came to the plate.

With me safely ensconced in my basement, the teams settled in as well, trading zeros through the 13th. The Mets pushed a run across in the 14th, only to watch the Astros' Billy Hatcher memorably line a homer off the leftfield foul pole with one out in the bottom half to tie the game. The way these two teams kept raising from the dead, the thought of the Shaggy D.A. singing about Jesus' burial garment no longer seemed so odd.

The Mets busted through in the 16th with three runs to go ahead 7-4, though naturally this game was far from over. The Astros scratched across one run, then another, off Jesse Orosco. Finally, Kevin Bass came to the plate with Houston trailing 7-6 and runners on first and second. Bass had airmailed two throws to the plate, allowing runs to score in both the 14th and 16th innings, and was looking for redemption, yet another storyline in a game full of them. Orosco, who looked old even then, threw six straight sliders. Bass swung and missed at the last of them and the Mets had won at last. The victory made possible an even more famous Game 6 comeback later that fall against the Red Sox.

If they ever remake that musical, I'll be there in the front row wearing my Mets cap. This time, though, I'm smuggling in a radio.

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