Jose Reyes set the tone early with a leadoff home run, and John Maine pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings as the Mets forced a game 7 with a 4-2 win over the Cardinals. Maine allowed just 2 hits and 3 unintentional walks as he shut down the St. Louis offense. Meanwhile, Reyes went on to collect 3 hits and score 2 runs, providing the spark New York needed to stay alive. Chris Carpenter was solid for St. Louis but suffered from a lack of run support. Carpenter allowed 2 runs on 7 hits over 6 innings. Game 7 will take place tomorrow night at Shea Stadium with Jeff Suppan pitching for St. Louis and Oliver Perez going for New York.

Game Notes and Quotes
  • The Cardinals were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position tonight...they are 9-for-46 this series.
  • The Mets were 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position tonight...they are 10-for-45 this series.
  • Since 1985, the home team is 5-2 in NLCS Game 7’s...4 of those games ended in shutouts.
Q. Can you talk about your experiences going into Game 7. What do you say to your players tomorrow night, both teams?
TONY LA RUSSA: Well, one of the things I said right there real quickly is Game 7 starts right now. They are getting ready to have the experience of a lifetime if you're in professional sports. You play a Game 7 in a best-of-seven probably baseball and basketball is where you have it. It's an experience you'll never forget. It will be one of the most enjoyable things, especially if you do it right as far as getting ready and doing the best that you can. You'll never forget it. I'd prefer our club to not go through it obviously, but it's magical. So I'm sure we'll be ready.

Q. Is there anything you learned about John Maine's makeup during the course of the season that you may not have known before?
WILLIE RANDOLPH: Well, I didn't really know him at all. The time that I've known him, he's shown me that he's tough. He's shown he can make adjustments. He's a real quiet kind of guy. Every time I've challenged him, like I said earlier, he's stepped up. Tonight especially, he didn't really waver at all. You can see where he's starting to feel more and more confident and really secure in his abilities and trusting his stuff. I just told him to go out and just let it go. Don't try to hold anything back. Just empty the tank for me and give me what you've got and we'll pick you up, and we did.

Q. Who is pitching Game 7, and why?
WILLIE RANDOLPH: Oliver Perez is pitching, and because I like him. (Laughter.) He's done a nice job for us since he's been here, very similar to Johnny Maine in a lot of ways. He's throwing the ball well. Last time he threw the ball real well. Like I said earlier, he needs to give us another quality start and just go with everything we've got tomorrow. Seventh game is exciting, and we're looking forward to that challenge.