Greg Angermaier
April 13, 2001
I was only 8 years old, but I still remember that game vividly. I had only become a big Mets fan about two years earlier when my dad took me to my first game against the Expos in September. After that I was hooked. Game Three of the National League Playoffs was the first post season game I ever went to. I remember sitting in the Upper Deck, about 5 rows from the back, on the first base line. Lenny Dykstra was my favorite player on the Mets because he was lefty (so am I) and because of the way he played. I remember jumping and down like a maniac when he hit the home run into the Mets bullpen to win the game. I remember trying to see what was going on, but I couldn't see over all the people in front. It was probably the most exciting game I've ever been to.

Chris Rosa
October 25, 2001
This game represented the first postseason baseball experience for me and my brother Gian. We sat in the wheelchair-accessible seats just inside the left-field foul pole beneath the "NY Newsday" sign. I remember Dykstra taking a big rip at next-to-last pitch of the game; enraged that he was deluded into thinking he could reach the seats against a sinkerballer, I screamed, "Who ever told him he was a home run hitter?!!!". Lenny then lofted Dave Smith's next offering deep to right. I watched Kevin Bass drift back to the rightfield wall. When he looked up, I knew it was gone! Bedlam at Shea! Amid the bedlam, I received a knowing look from the older woman seated next to me, which chastized me for ever having doubted Lenny. As we descended the ramps, I watched as complete strangers hugged each other. One stuck a souvenir pennant in my hand which I keep as a momento of that incredible win.

Joe Lanzisera
July 22, 2002
What a finish. Wally drops a drag bunt and barely beats it out. Lenny steps in and hits a blast to right off of Smith (I never liked him). I can still hear Keith Jackson's call on ABC ("...deep to right...she is gone"). I couldn't remember why Dykstra was hitting after Backman that day until looking at the box score above and realizing that neither of them started the game.

I also remember that we lost power in our area for an hour during start of the game on that Saturday afternoon. By the time it came back on we were down 4-0 courtesy of Doran's homer. Darryl also took the lefty - Bob Knepper - deep for a 3-run shot to get us back in it. I think he took it the other way to left-center if I remember correctly. I always confuse this one with the one he hit off of Nolan Ryan later in the series. What a post-season.

Bob
July 25, 2002
Joe, I'm pretty sure Strawberry's homer was a line drive right down the RF line. I was sitting in the upper deck just past first base and I remember thinking that the ball was going to go foul. But he hit it too hard for it to have enough time to go foul!

Karl de Vries
August 22, 2002
Strawberry's homer in this game, his first of the series, was a bomb into the lodge level off of Knepper. His screaming line drive, just down the foul line was off of Nolan Ryan at Shea, game 5.

Jim R
April 17, 2003
Gone are the days of the passion and the drive that the Mets showed in those great games in the 80's. You could see it in all of the players eyes.

Bigblu89
May 22, 2004
Like the 1st poster, I was only 8 years old when the Mets won it all in 1986, and this is the very first game I remember watching. It turned me into a Mets fan for life, and Lenny Dykstra has been my favorite athlete of all time since that day.

Lee
May 10, 2006
There once was a time when Lenny Dykstra wasn't on the juice and didn't have more muscle in his arms than most people Patrick Ewing's size. That time was 1986. Lenny Dykstra was by no means a home run hitter, but he will always be remembered for one specific home run, which came in this game. Strawberry had to hit a laser- beam bomb to get them back in it, and then Dykstra lifted it down the line and everyone was jumping around and the Mets had managed to surprise us again!

Frank
August 20, 2006
I remember sitting on the 1st base line mezzanine with my future wife freezing our tails off. After falling behind early, Darryl got us back in it with a line shot homer to right. Down 1 in the ninth, the last thing I was thinking with Lenny up was a homer (pre-steriod days). I was hoping for a double to tie it up. I couldn't believe it when I saw the ball keep carrying until it left the park. I must of high fived and hugged everyone in our row! With all the screaming and cheering, I couldn't speak clearly for days afterwards. I just saw an autographed picture of Lenny running around the bases after the homer...it will soon be on my wall.

Jimmy
December 6, 2006
On the morning of this game, I did not have a ticket but after dreaming of seeing the Mets in the playoffs since I became a fan back in 1975, I so wanted to experience the atmosphere at Shea. Since I was without a ticket my plan was to simply get a good view on the train platform so I could at least see half the field. I left my house at 8 am and got there around 9:30. When I got there I was surprised to hear that tickets were on sale. I excitedly got on line and debated whether to find a phone and call my friends but if I did that I would lose my place in line and lose out on the chance to see a playoff game at Shea. So I stayed and bought the ticket.

I remember sitting there in the mezzanine and just looking out and I could not believe I was at the NLCS and of course the way the game turned out with Strawberry's dramatic sixth inning blast to tie it and Dykstra's game winner just put the cap on a happily memorable day at Shea.

johnrd
December 10, 2006
WHAT A GAME!! My only post season game so far. Bought a ticket in the Upper Level Boxes down the left field line behind the foul pole with my brother off a scalper for 75 bucks each. I remember 2 Astro fans sitting in front of us. They were a pain in the butt. Shea went absolutely bonkers after Lenny's home run. Those Astro fans mysteriously disappeared after that (HA HA)!!

Tom Quinn
September 9, 2007
My friend got us seats in the back of the Loge. You almost knew Strawberry was going to hit it out. That ball got out in a hurry. I swear I'm still hoarse from screaming "LENNY!! LENNY!!" after the game. This game is #2 on my list of thrilling games I saw at Shea (I was at Game 6 of the Series).

coast2coastKaraokeJoe
September 15, 2007
I remember this as being my very first Mets' play-off game thanks to the mom of a guy at my college who got students tickets for that weekend's games. I lucked out in getting that ticket to one of the great games that weekend. I sat in the RF loge watching Straw's HR land a few rows ahead of me. When Lenny hit his HR, I remember the fans cheering and waiting for an 1986 curtain call. Dykstra had said that he hadn't hit a HR like that since when he beat his brother in Strat-O-Matic. Ironically, Dykstra's quote was on the Shea scoreboard's Who Said It? Friday night and I didn't have to even think about it. Seeing the quote tonight made me rush home to type this entry. To this very day, I still have my ticket stub and 1986 NLCS program.

Pat
February 29, 2008
My first postseason game, section 23 upper deck. The best memory: LENNY, LENNY, LENNY chant from everyone on the ramps leaving the stadium.

Bob (Diehard Mets Fan)
February 9, 2009
This was my very first NLCS game I attended. Sitting in the Upper Deck Section all I can say is WOW!! Mets down 4-0 till bottom of the 6th. Strawberry hitting a homer to tie the game. Mets down by a run bottom of the ninth. And then came Lenny (Nails) Dykstra hitting a two run homer to win the game. All I can say is WOW!!

The Motts
December 6, 2010
Dykstra's home run was TOTALLY UNEXPECTED. It wasn't even within the realm of possible outcomes. It's hard to explain this to today's fan, but, in the mid-80s, a game winning walk-off home run from Lenny was the last thing on my mind. I remember praying for a single to tie it.

Watched this game with a bunch of friends. Was 16 at the time. First a look of complete surprise, then total jubilation. Really a special moment from a magical year.

Hot Foot
March 17, 2022
I rushed home from school and turned on the TV just in time to see Wally Backman's drag bunt. When Dave Smith threw the pickoff throw away I knew the Mets were going to win. Lenny's home run had me jumping and screaming around the TV room.

The next day my uncle (who lived in Flushing) told me that he was on the 7 train during the 9th inning and someone was playing the game on the radio. He said the moment Lenny hit the home run the people on the train went so crazy that the train had to stop. I can't verify if that's true, but it has become mythological in my mind. Every time I watch the home run on YouTube, I can't help imagining the 7 train having to stop from all the jumping and shaking as Lenny is being mobbed at home plate.

Hot Foot
March 18, 2022
A few minutes after I submitted my post about this game last night, I realized that I mixed up elements of Game 5 with this game, namely, the pickoff throw in the 9th inning, which happened in game 5, not in this game.

Also, this game was played on a Saturday, so I barely made it home in time to see the ending for game 5, which was played on a Tuesday.

I actually watched this whole game in my TV room, wearing my home Mets jersey (no number) with my Mets batting helmet and little league bat when they were hitting, and a mesh, snapback Mets hat and glove when they were in the field. I watched every playoff game in uniform.

So another element of game 5 that always gets mixed up with this game is Strawberry's home run. Before I watched both of Strawberry's home runs, I only remembered the game 5 home run off Nolan Ryan (even though it happened when I was still at school).

The difference is Straw's home run in game 3 off Knepper had a higher trajectory, almost like a punt with a 3+ second hang time before landing about ten rows behind the Newsday sign in the Loge level.

The game 5 home run off Nolan Ryan was a screaming line drive that took less than two seconds to get out and just barely cleared the wall in the right field corner.

By the way, I also watched the 6th inning again and Craig Reynolds made an error on a double-play ball hit by Carter. The ball rolled under his glove, allowing Mitchell to score from second, making the score 4-1 with two men on and no one out, instead of 4-0 with two outs and one man on base.

With the score now 4-1, Straw hits the 3 run homer and the camera shot cuts to the sign guy (just like 1969) holding up a professional-looking sign that says: STRAW BURIED. Classic.

Moving ahead to the ninth, Backman gets on base J.C Martin style, then Danny Heep bats next. On an 0-1 pitch, Dave Smith throws a wild pitch that goes to the backstop, and THAT's how Wally gets to second base.

Heep takes the count full but eventually hits a routine fly to center on a high fastball, not far enough for Backman to tag up.

Then Lenny comes to the plate. The way ABC cover this at bat is worthy of an Emmy. Just before the home run pitch, Keith Jackson sets the defense:

"Walling on the grass at third, Davis just off the grass at first, (camera cuts to Terry Dykstra) everybody's on the dirt..." and then with the shot still holding on Lenny's wife with a look of determination on her face, Tim McCarver says, "Or the edge of their seats." Classic.

On the next pitch, an 0-1 offering, bang.

"Hit to right. Bass goin' back. Goin' back. Iiiiiiiit's gone!"

Pandemonium. "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang starts playing over the PA. They cut to a shaky overhead shot of Shea, with the "Baseball like it oughta be" banner visible on the side on the stadium, and at that moment the LENNY! chant can be heard. This whole time, Keith Jackson is quiet, letting the pictures and the crowd noise tell the story. Just before he starts his recap of the home run, a guy holds up a sign that says: WELCOME TO THE ASTRO DOOM

Classic.

Hot Foot
April 5, 2022
Correcting an earlier post, the Strawberry home run? in the 6th inning landed about 4 rows back in the right field Loge level behind the Newsday sign, not 10 rows back. Also, I used a stopwatch to time the exact hang time of his home run off Knepper, and it was in the air for 5.77 seconds.

The attendance at this game was 55,052, the highest of any game played in that year's NLCS (home or away). Surprisingly, more people attended this game than Game 7 of the World Series, which was played on a Monday night.? It was the Mets' first home playoff game in 13 years, and watching it again, you can feel the electricity from the crowd, especially after Mitchell scores to make it 4-1 with two men on and Straw at the plate.

On October 11, 1986, I watched the ABC telecast, but whenever I replay Lenny Dykstra's home run back in my mind, I can only hear Bob Murphy's call. The reason is that they used Murph's call on the 1986 Mets highlight video, so I've heard Murph's call hundreds of times, whereas I only heard Keith Jackson's call once, at least before the game was added to YouTube.

Bob Murphy's call of Lenny's home run still gives me chills. As Lenny wiggles his fingers in the batter's box, Murph says: "Lenny Dykstra, the man they call "Nails" on the Mets ballclub is waiting. Now the pitch... and a high fly ball, hit to right field; it is fairly deep; it's way back; it's by the wall; HE DID IT! IT'S A HOME RUN! A HOME RUN! THE METS WIN THE BALLGAME! DYKSTRA HITS A HOME RUN! LEN DYKSTRA HIT A HOME RUN! THIS BALLGAME IS OVER!" At this moment, the highlight video shows Lenny screaming as he's being mobbed at home plate and I swear I can hear Lenny scream louder than everyone else in the stadium.

Wrapping up my (third) summary of this classic game, I know I've already related my uncle's story: that he was on the 7 train the moment Lenny hit the home run, and because all the Mets fans on the train went nuts, the train stopped in its tracks.

What I failed to mention in my previous post is that when he told me this, my first thought was, "Why the hell were you on the 7 train and not at home watching the game?"

However, all I said was, "Wow."