Mets will remember Maine

NEW YORK – With the New York Mets on the brink of elimination, John Maine pitched a game to remember.

The rookie dominated St. Louis with the poise of a veteran, Jose Reyes sparked the offense with a leadoff home run and the Mets rocked at boisterous Shea Stadium to beat the Cardinals 4-2 on Wednesday night and force the National League Championship Series to a decisive seventh game.

“I knew everything was riding on it,” Maine said.

Reyes had three hits and two stolen bases, Shawn Green boosted the lead with a fourth-inning RBI single and Paul Lo Duca let the loud crowd of 56,334 exhale with a two-run, two-out single in the seventh off Braden Looper that made it 4-0.

Now the pennant comes down to tonight, when the Cardinals start Jeff Suppan, who won Game 3 with eight scoreless innings.

“We left everything out on the field today,” St. Louis second baseman Ronnie Belliard said. “Nobody said it’s going to be easy.”

Carefully piecing together their pitching following injuries to Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez, the Mets will start Game 4 winner Oliver Perez on three days’ rest.

“Everyone wants to pitch in the seventh game.” said Perez, just 3-13 during the regular season.

Of 11 prior teams to trail 3-2 in the LCS and force a seventh game, eight won pennants – the exceptions were the 1988 Mets, the 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates and 2003 Boston Red Sox. Home teams that have won Game 6 to tie a postseason series have won 11 straight Game 7s since the 1975 Red Sox lost the World Series finale to Cincinnati.

“They are getting ready to have the experience of a lifetime if you’re in professional sports,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said, looking ahead to Game 7. “I’d prefer our club to not go through it, obviously, but it’s magical. So I’m sure we’ll be ready.”

Even before Game 6, Mets manager Willie Randolph exuded confidence. Players were briefed on plans to travel to Detroit on Friday for the World Series opener the following day.

“I think if you’re going to play the game and you want to be a winner, you have to believe that you can,” Randolph said.

Darting in and out of trouble twice in the first three innings, Maine outpitched reigning N.L. Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter. Maine allowed two hits in the first and none after that, pitching 51/3 shutout innings, striking out five and walking four.

“I went to him before the game, and I said, ‘I wouldn’t want anybody else but you. Let’s go!’ ” Lo Duca said.

When it was time to come out, he was circled on the mound like a conquering hero: Reyes patted him on the back and David Wright patted him on the shoulder. Maine acknowledged the standing ovation with only a small wave of his left hand as he walked to the dugout.

“I try not to put too much pressure on myself,” Maine said. “I just try to pound the strike zone and get them to put it in play.”

Chad Bradford, Guillermo Mota, Aaron Heilman and Billy Wagner finished. Wagner gave up a two-run, two-out double to So Taguchi in the ninth before retiring David Eckstein on a game-ending grounder.

In a rematch of Game 2 starters who didn’t get decisions, Carpenter was nearly as good, just not enough on this night. He gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings, dropping to 0-1 in his two starts.

Shea Stadium was rocking, with the volume on the speakers turned up and the scoreboard flashing quotes from Mets players praising the fans. In the first Game 6 at the ballpark since the famous comeback against Boston that was capped by Mookie Wilson’s grounder through Bill Buckner’s legs, the spirit of ‘86 was invoked on several signs.

The Mets even wore their traditional pinstripes, just like in their championship years of 1969 and 1986.

“I looked in the stands a couple of times and it looked like a college students’ section. People didn’t sit down the whole game,” Lo Duca said.

Reyes’ home run, a no-doubt-about-it drive to right-center, came when Carpenter left a cutter over the plate on his third pitch. It was Reyes’ first in postseason play — his first since Sept. 10.

“As Jose goes, we go,” Randolph said. “His energy is infectious.”