Nasty, nasty split. Probably the very best in the game at that point.
Astros couldn't score a lick. Two of the best pitchers in all of baseball - on a normal team, those two would combine for 45 wins by themselves. They were THAT good.
Mike Scott is a name that sends shivers down the spine of any Met fan, old enough to recall the 1986 season. He had broken into the majors several years earlier as a Met. But his tenure in N Y was un-inspiring. He spent time back-and-forth between the majors and minors. After four seasons, they gave up on Scott. He was traded to the Astros for Danny Heep, who went on to become a valuable pinch-hitter for New York.
But between the ’84 and ’85 seasons, Scott sought the tutelage of Roger Craig, who taught him the split-finger fastball that turned his career around. In ’85 he set records for wins (18), strikeouts and innings pitched. But 1985 was just a springboard into ’86. He won 18 games again, with a 2.22 ERA. His last start of the regular season was a no-hitter vs the Giants, which clinched Houston’s NL West title. Ironically, the manager for San Francisco was Roger Craig. Scott won the Cy Young award, in a landslide.
He got the chance to show his ex-team, the Mets, who they had lost faith in, in the NL Championship series. In the first game he struck out 14, in a 5-hit shutout. The Mets won games 2 & 3, but Scott started Game 4, and he once again, went the distance in a 3-hit, 3-1 complete game.
The Mets took game 5, which set up what all Met fans believed, was a do-or-die game 6. Because, Scott was poised to start Game 7, and no one believed he could be beaten. Game 6 turned out to be a classic. Down 3-0 in the 9th, the Mets rallied to tie it. Neither team scored until the 14th inning, when the Mets scored a go-ahead run, only to have Houston respond with a Billy Hatcher home run. The Mets then scored three runs in the top of the 16th.
The insurance runs proved valuable, as the Astros responded with two runs in the bottom of the 16th. With the tying and winning runs on base, Jesse Orosco struck out Kevin Bass, and the Mets went on to the World Series, and Scott was left in the dugout.
Despite pitching for the losing team, Mike Scott was voted series MVP.
Go Rebels!