Jerry O.
February 21, 2001
I was in college with some of my frat buddies sitting in bar in PA watching this game after a class. I was so pumped by Darling's performance..gutsy was putting in lightly! I think he was up against John Tudor, who was one of the Card's best that year. I remember jumping out of my chair when Straw hit the homer..One of my all time greatest games to watch! A great game no matter who won it..

Brad Kurtzberg
June 29, 2001
I remember this game vividly. I was a freshman at the University of Michigan and the only way we could get the game was to pick up the St. Louis radio station in a friend's dorm room. We barely got any reception, it was in and out the entire game, sometimes based only where people were standing in the room. When Staw hit the home run, the entire room full of New Yorkers went nuts...A great pitchers duel filled with tension in every pitch.

Charlie
December 7, 2001
Darryl Strawberry stopped the clock with his 10th inning homer.

Joe Lanzisera
June 30, 2003
I remember sitting in the dark in the living room late at night watching this one play out. It was a desperate must-win for the Mets - actually all three games of this series were and we only got 2 of them! I remember the matchup was set Darling-Gooden-Aguilera vs. Tudor- Andujar-Cox. I was always a big Darling fan and he did an awesome job in this one. He matched Tudor, pitch-for-pitch. Anyway, Darryl hit the ball from Dayley high off the scoreboard in right. I remember McCarver said for years that it was the second longest shot he had ever seen hit in Busch Stadium. I think second to Willie McCovey. What a win!

Steven Green
September 30, 2003
Yes a must win game. The Mets #2 starter up against the ace of the first place cards with five games left to play (three against St. L) and two games behind the Cards.

This game is memorable not only because of how crucial it was for the Mets 1985 season but because it was the most intense pitching matchup I have ever seen.

Darling matched Tudor pitch for pitch. Through nine innings Darling gave up three scattered hits and Tudor gave up four. I was on the edge of my seat with every pitch. I knew that one mistake would blow the game. After nine full innings, there were no mistakes from the mound and no score.

The two starters pitched until the tenth and then both were taken out for pinch hitters. It was a letdown for me that the two starters did not finish the game though they both pitched with excellence. If the game were in the sixties, they likely would have been kept in the game.

The Mets won in the eleventh but the Cards won the pennant. I can not remember a single game that was as strongly pitched from both sides as this game was and it is vividly and permanently in my memory as one great ballgame for the pitchers.

BILL
July 7, 2005
Strawberry's biggest regular season HR as a Met!

Unser
March 22, 2006
Anyone out there live on Long Island in 1985? This game was played on the day after Hurricane Gloria hit and we had no electricity. Saw it on my friend's battery-powered Sony Watchman, which was state of the art at that time. That clock shot by Strawberry in the wee hours of the morning . . . major excitement, albeit in the dark. I'll never forget that game. Nail-biter from start to finish.

BOB 4
September 9, 2007
Darling pitched the game of his life.

I remember Johnson getting a lot of heat from the NY press for not matching up Gooden (on 3 days rest) against Tudor who was almost as unbeatable as Gooden down the stretch (Tudor had a 1.97 era and a unthinkable 10 shutouts in '85. Almost half of his wins were shutouts!).

Herzog, switched Tudor's place with Andujar in his rotation, but Johnson didn't take the bait and keeped Darling in his turn. I never knew what the controversy was all about. The Mets need all three games to have a chance at the division so why mess up the rotation. (If the Cardinals had loss all three games you know the White Rat would have gotten a lot criticism for messing his rotation!)

For young Met fans (I was 17) '84 is remembered as the year we all felt what a pennant race was, but it was really '85 and these three games that really showed us the heat of the race and gave a glimpse of what was to become in '86.

I remember the whole city was up watching these games. The lead story on all the local news, etc.

Strawberry's homer (still one of the biggest in Met history) was truly amazing! Van Slyke didn't move an inch when the ball sailed into the St. Louis night. Of note, Dayley’s curveball that night was unhittable. In the 11th he fanned Hernandez (with the hometown Cradnial fans going crazy every time Hernandez made an out) then again Carter, before he threw one to many curves that Straw (keeping his shoulder in) tagged.

Lastly, everyone remembers Darling's big game, Straw's homer but what about the bottom of the 11th? It started with Mookie dropping a fly ball and Orosco doing his Houdini routine to get out of trouble! As the game ended all I thought about was having Gooden fresh the next day...with his 23-4 record in tow...and how Johnson now looked like a genius.