Steve's sister Caroline was able to get four great tickets for her kids, Matthew and Allison, and Steve to NLCS Game 6 at Shea. Before Steve sold food at Shea, Caroline worked there and helped Steve get his job.   They have a total of 17 years experience working at Shea.  Though Caroline is a Yankees fan, she is a big Willie Randolph fan.  Matthew and Allison are Mets fans as is Steve. Caroline has signs made up at work: "Lets Go Mets" for Allison and a cool David Wright sign for Matthew. Tickets were 15 rows behind David Wright.

It is a very warm autumn night of 69 degrees at Shea.  With one out in the first, Chavez made mistake in not throwing to second to either get Pujols on a tight hamstring or to keep him at first.  Instead, Chavez threw to third.  Maine comes through to strike out Edmonds.  Wow!  Encarncion HBP.  Rolen thankfully flew out with the bases loaded.

To get a better view of the field, Steve put Matthew on his shoulders and he held our sign as well as the David Wright sign.  Allison sees her teacher from school. During the Kiss Cam on the big screen, The Donald was at the game with his Mom.

In the bottom of the fourth, Beltran singles, Delgado flies out.  David Wright singles.  Shawn Green singles in Beltran.  The Mets take a 2-0 lead.

Maine gets Pujols to strike out to end the top of the fifth.  Three up, three down.  Remember the Maine!  Maine grounds out to start the bottom of the fifth.  Jose singles and Lo Duca advances him to second on a ground out but Beltran grounds out to Eckstein to end the inning.  Mets still thankfully lead 2-0.

A foul ball lands four seats away from Steve.  Our NLDS foul ball karma is coming back to us.  Edmonds walks and Encarnacion flies out.  Willie takes no chances and brings in Chad Bradford.  Maine leaves with a 2-0 lead after 98 pitches, 2 hits, and 5.1 innings.  Will the Mets bullpen be able to get the last 11 outs?  With Edmonds running, Rolen grounds out to Reyes to Valentin to Delgado.  Out of danger after the top of the sixth, the Mets still lead 2-0.

In the top of the seventh, Belliard singles but Molina flies out.  Bradford is done after an inning.  Mota is in.  The Mets turns another double-play as Duncan grounds out.

In bottom of the seventh, Looper is in to face the Mets.  (Let's hope he reverts to his old form.)  Valentin grounds out and Chavez flies out.  Tucker pinch hits for Mota and singles.  While Jose Reyes is at bat, Tucker steals second.  Reyes gets aboard with his fourth base hit to Eckstein.  Eckstein saves a run while Tucker advances to third.  While Lo Duca is at bat, Jose steals his second base of the night.  Lo Duca hits a ball to center field as the Mets take a 4-0 lead.  Looper thankfully comes through again.  Yeah!  La Russa has to go to the bullpen and brings in Tyler Johnson.

The kids have to leave for an 11:15pm train back to Long Island in the top of the 8th. They leave with a secure 4 run lead. Allison has a science test. Steve has an MBA mid-term on Friday and Game 7 tickets. He decides the Mets are more important than his exam and stays. He meets two 15 year old super-METS fans: Zach Herenstein and Daniel Tuchman. They listen as Steve tells about his emotions watching Game 6 in 1986 (they were not born yet), his job at Shea (they want to work there now), and working the 1988 playoffs at Shea. Daniel's birthday is tomorrow (Game 7) and has tickets. All sounds like good luck! Zach and Daniel promise to become the youngest readers of Steve & The Tank.

Richard and Kathleen call to tell Steve they saw him on TV. Not much until the top of the 9th (I had some work issues to resolve).  Zach hates Billy Wagner, Steve defends the Sandman. Two runs score after Encarnacion singles, Rolen doubles, Belliard grounds out, Molina flies out, and Taguchi doubles and the Cardinals cut the lead to 4-2.  However, David Eckstein playing with a hurt shoulder thankfully grounds out to end the game.  The Mets thankfully win 4-2.  Game 7 here we come.  Let's Go Mets!

Posted by The Tank with Steve reporting live from Shea.