National League Standings, September 11, 1987
METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE SEPTEMBER 11, 1987 GAME:
Dan
August 3, 2000
The Pendleton homer. Mets up, 4-3, two outs in the 9th, McDowell pitching. Mets one game behind the Cards in this first game of a crucial three-game series. Pendleton had two strikes on him, and 55,000 people starting singing, "Na-na-na, hey-hey, goodbye..." Even my friends and I in the upper deck felt confident enough to start singing along. Then, Pendleton unloaded a line-drive home run to straight away center field. You never heard 55,000 people get so quiet so fast. It was sickeningly quiet the next inning when Jesse Fiasco gave up the go-ahead home run to Tommy Herr. Everybody knew this was a mortal blow. The Mets never recovered that season.
Joe
August 31, 2001
I remember this game. Darling and Meyers had a combined one-hitter going to the ninth, the Mets were up 4-1. Then with 2 out McDowell gave up a run scoring hit and then a 2-run homer to Pendleton. They lost in the 10th and lost a chance to go only .5 games out. Instead they were 2.5 out and were done.
Joe
September 4, 2001
Oh yeah - I forgot to mention in my 8/31 posting that I was actually at the game. I was sitting way up with a bunch of friends and I remember a fight breaking out a few rows in front of us during the Cards' rally. I still remember someone saying in a very sad voice - "See you guys starting fighting and the Mets started falling apart!!"
Joe Lanzisera
July 22, 2002
This is one of the top 5 worst Met losses of all time in my book. Up 4-1 in the 9th - Shea rocking and rolling. The Mets ready to close to within .5 games with Gooden and Cone going in the rest of the series. We were thinking World Series repeat until Pendleton unloads in the 9th. Once he hit it, you knew we were done, you didn't even have to watch the tenth. It was just like Scoscia's blast in the '88 NLCS off of Doc - same empty feeling inside. And it was on 9/11 to boot!
Dean Kyriacou
July 24, 2002
I was at Pizzeria Uno with a group of my friends on a Friday night. I wasn't old enough to drive so my pop had to pick me up. While he was on his way, Pendleton stroked one to center and ruined me that night. My dad, to this day, calls me a jinx for getting him out of the house to come get me. And of course, he wasn't the biggest Orosco fan, and I was. This game has scarred me for life.
Jeff In Florida
May 27, 2003
I was at this game as well. I was 12 years old. It broke my heart. I'll never forget sitting in the upper deck and seeing a furious fight between Cards and Mets fans. When Whitey came out of the dugout to talk to his pitcher all the Mets fans BOOOOOOOOOOOOed! And I'll never forget a guy sitting next to me with a Cards hat on saying, "If the Mets fans keep booing the Cards might just win." As a 12 year old who was a big Back to the Future fan I later wondered if he was actually a time traveler who already knew the outcome of the game because nobody saw it coming. We had it won. I still say Davey should have stuck with Randy Myers who was pitching great instead of bringing in McDowell who was off and on that year.
Frank
September 30, 2003
This is without a doubt the worst game in Mets history. I was an usher in a wedding that night. The groom and ushers were all die-hard Met fans so we kept running to the bar to watch. The score was 4-1 Mets the entire game. McDowell had two strikes on Willie McGee with two outs in the ninth. He singles up the middle to score a run. Then Pendleton. It was the most empty feeling I've ever had as a fan. I agree with all those who've said we knew the season was over right then. Yeah, it happened on 9/11, and all these years later we still ride our friend that he got married on the worst night in Mets history. Johnson was an absolute fool to take out Myers, whom the Cardinals couldn't touch.
The Motts
July 12, 2006
I was at this game - I never saw Shea go from complete elation to absolute silence so quickly. I can still see that Pendleton shot (and it WAS a shot) sailing over Mookie's head and over the centerfield wall.
Ugh.
Anyone remember that McReynolds almost tied it in the bottom of the 10th - line drive caught at the top of the right field wall.
Mike from Brooklyn
October 29, 2010
Was in a bar on the upper East Side watching this with my brother and a embittered Pirates fan (imagine what he is like now!). We were feeling so good about our Mets until the stunning shot by Pendleton. No one in the place could believe it. My Pirates friend was ecstatic (surprised we didn't kill him).
As others mentioned you had a sense that the Mets were done. Was such a tough season and to lose like this was brutal - and a harbinger of bad times to come (i.e. the Scioscia in '88)
Gene Friedman
July 21, 2012
Yeah, I was there - 1st base mezz. I have been to hundreds of games including the Endy Chavez catch game in 2006 ironically also against the Cards. But there was no game that ever compared to this one in going from total elation to complete devastation in the blink of an eye when Pendleton hit that tracer to center. I mean it got out so fast - I remember looking at the scoreboard in disbelief to see the game tied 4-4 and saying what just happened!? Shea got so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It was like 55,000 people got punched in the stomach.
The game started off so well...I remember HoJo stealing 2nd earlier in the game to make the 30-30 club and Shea was absolutely electric. Darling was cruising with a no-hitter until that fateful drag bunt by Coleman in the 6th. Darling broke his thumb on that play diving for the ball and that was when I had the first inkling that the fun was over.
Darling said later that when he left to go home in the 9th his car was actually parked behind the fence in center and Pendleton's HR ball almost hit his car...talk about insult to injury!
Then the #7 train ride back to GCT after the game... it was soooo quiet... everyone in stunned silence. Yep - this was the worst Mets game ever - hands down.
Michael
July 6, 2021
Just watched this one on the old tape. I had forgotten that Terry Pendleton appeared on Kiner's Korner after the game as Ralph's guest. I cannot imagine any Mets fan saw that interview, as nobody would have stayed up to watch it after the disaster of the 9th and 10th innings. Pendleton was cordial and admitted that when he went to the plate, he was thinking of a homer.
Zambrano
September 11, 2023
@The Motts...The Mets were down by two runs when McReynolds came up with nobody on. A home run would not have tied it.
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