Remembering Mets History: (1986) Gary Carter's Seven RBI Night Ignites Another Mets Brawl

Friday July 11th 1986: Davey Johnson's first place Mets (57-25) hosted Chuck Tanner's fourth place Atlanta Braves (42-44) in front of 39,924 at Shea Stadium. The Mets' Sid Fernandez (11-2) went up against David Palmer (5-7).

Starting Lineups

	Atlanta Braves				New York Mets
1	Andres Thomas	SS		1	Lenny Dykstra	CF
2	Ken Griffey	LF		2	Wally Backman	2B
3	Dale Murphy	CF		3	Keith Hernandez	1B
4	Bob Horner	1B		4	Gary Carter	C
5	Terry Harper	RF		5	Darryl Strawberry	RF
6	Rafael Ramirez	3B		6	George Foster	LF
7	Ozzie Virgil	C		7	Ray Knight	3B
8	Ken Oberkfell	2B		8	Kevin Mitchell	SS
9	David Palmer	P		9	Sid Fernandez	P

This game was all Mets all the way. On the mound Sid Fernandez was outstanding, having his best outing of the regular season. He allowed just two hits the whole game, striking out nine & walking three. The win bought him to 12-2 with a 2.67 ERA on the season.

The Mets offense was led by "the Kid' Gary Carter. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Carter came up with two out & Lenny Dykstra & Wally Backman on base. He hit his first HR of the evening, a three run shot making it 3-0 Mets. 

Carter went to the dugout to a standing ovation from the Shea Faithful, he came out raised his fist in the air & gave a curtain call.

This was a familar scene at Shea during the '86 Championship season. But Braves pitcher David Palmer, wasn't amused.

On the next pitch he hit Mets outfielder Darryl Strawberry in the back. Straw dropped his bat & charged the mound. Palmer threw his glove at Darryl & ducked away.

The Braves catcher Ozzie Virgil stopped Straw at first & other team mates restrained him. The dugouts emptied & there was a big shoving match going on at the pitchers mound. Order was restored & no one got ejected.

In the 2nd inning, opportunity came again for Carter. Sid Fernandez & Wally Backman both singled, then with two outs, Keith Hernandez drew a walk to load the bases. David Palmer was still on the mound for Atlanta.

Carter followed with a grand slam HR down the left field line, really giving Palmer a night where he wanted to crawl in a hole. It was Carter's second HR in as many innings, giving him seven RBIs in the Mets 11-0 win.

Carter now had 16 HRs on the season up to that point & was batting .247.