Remembering Mets History (1986) Gary Carter's Seven RBI Night Ignites Another Mets Brawl
But the Mets had just lost four of five games & had recently been swept at Shea Stadium by Pete Rose's Cincinnati Reds. The previous night Bob Ojeda broke the losing streak winning his tenth game of the year beating Atlanta in the series opener.
The Mets' Sid Fernandez (11-2) went up against Atlanta's David Palmer (5-7) in a nationally broadcast game by Vin Scully & Joe Garagiola on NBC Sports.
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In the bottom of the 1st inning, Lenny Dykstra walked & Wally Backman reached with a bunt base hit. With two outs, Gary Carter hit his 15th HR of the season, the three-run shot gave the Mets a 3-0 lead. It was Carters first of a big offensive game.
Carter went to the dugout to a standing ovation from the Shea Faithful, he came out raised his fist in the air for a classic 1986 Mets curtain call.
On the very next pitch Palmer hit Mets outfielder Darryl Strawberry in the back with a pitch. Straw immediately dropped his bat & charged the mound. Dave Palmer threw his glove at a charging Darryl Strawberry & jumped away.
Quotes- David Palmer: I told Keith Hernandez when we were scuffling, I don't care if you hit 15 HRs but don't show me up".
Grand Slam HR:
"The Kid" jumped on Palmer's pitch blasting a grand slam HR down the left field line & over the wall. Carter's second HR in as many innings, gave him a season high- seven RBIs on the night. It was Carter's tenth career grand slam, he would hit 11 grand slam HRs in his Hall of Fame career.
In the '86 Championship season, Carter drove in 105 runs, the third straight season where he drove in 100 or more runs. In his career, Carter had four 100 plus RBI seasons.
Baves manager, Chuck Tanner finally came out to relieve his pitcher. By this time Palmer heard the Shea boo birds upon his exit, as he had allowed seven runs on five hits, two HRs & two walks, striking out one.
On the mound for the Mets, Sid Fernandez had his best outing of the regular season. "El Sid" pitched a two-hit complete game shutout, while striking out nine, walking three & hitting one batter.
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Carter went to the dugout to a standing ovation from the Shea Faithful, he came out raised his fist in the air for a classic 1986 Mets curtain call.
Mets Trivia: The curtain call was a familiar scene at Shea during the '86 Championship season. Whenever a player would hit a meaningful HR or have a big moment, the fans cheered on their feet usually chanting that players name, until the player came out of the dugout to acknowledge them.
Most other teams hated this & tonight was no exception as Braves pitcher David Palmer, wasn't amused.
Braves catcher Ozzie Virgil temporarily stopped Straw & home plate umpire Jerry Crawford grabbed Palmer.
The dugouts emptied, Keith Hernandez & Ron Darling came charging out going right after Palmer. Pitcher Rick Aguilera was right there as well. A big shoving match went on at the pitcher's mound. Order was eventually restored, no one got ejected & play resumed.
Quotes- Darryl Strawberry: " When a guy hits you, then stares at you what are you supposed to do?".
Quotes- Gary Carter: "I was his catcher for six years in Montreal. He was fustrated & he took it out on Strawberry".
In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Sid Fernandez & Wally Backman both singled, with two outs, Keith Hernandez drew a walk to load the bases. Braves pitcher David Palmer was still on the mound f& had to face Carter again.
Grand Slam HR:
"The Kid" jumped on Palmer's pitch blasting a grand slam HR down the left field line & over the wall. Carter's second HR in as many innings, gave him a season high- seven RBIs on the night. It was Carter's tenth career grand slam, he would hit 11 grand slam HRs in his Hall of Fame career. Gary Carter Trivia: The seven RBIs were a career high for Carter. He would have three multi- HR games in the Championship season, plus another a two HR night at Fenway Park in the World Series. In his Mets career he had nine multi- HR games. This was his 16th HR of the season & he now had 65 RBIs.
The seven RBIs were one shy of Dave Kingman's 1976 franchise record of eight at that time.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning, with the Braves Craig McMurty now pitching, Ray Knight tripled down the right field line Knight would only hit two triples all season. Kevin Mitchell then walked & back-to-back RBI doubles from pitcher Sid Fernandez & Len Dykstra made it a 10-0 Met lead.
In the top of the 4th, Darryl Strawberry & George Foster both reached on ground ball errors by Braves infielders. Ray Knight collected his second hit with an RBI single to cap off the 11-0 blow out.
In the 2nd inning, Terry Harper led off with a base hit & in the 3rd, Andres Thomas collected a one out double. Fernandez did not allow another hit from the 3rd inning on.
Sid Fernandez Trivia: Sid had now won his seventh straight game; the win bought him to 12-2 leading the league in victories. Fernandez was also posting one of the league's best ERA's at 2.67 ERA on the season. Over his last 22.2 innings Ed Sid had only allowed two earned runs with opponents' batting just .182 against him.
Earlier that week, he became the first Hawaiin born athlete to be named to any All-Star team in American sports.
The Mets swept the series; on Saturday they celebrated an Old Timers reunion & on Sunday they honored Rusty Staub who had just retired the previous season.