1986 MLB Playoffs and Mike Scott

Yeah I remember that game too, I was five...

 

Anyone else ever read One Pitch Away? It's about the 1986 playoffs in general, including the Astros' series (it also talks about some guy named Buckner). A very entertaining read; brought back some distant memories. I'd forgotten exactly how awesome Scott was, the details of that epic game 6, etc.

 

I remember that series from the New York perspective, watching the Mets losing in Game 6 while I agonized at home with my family in Brooklyn, praying that the Astros would bring in Dave Smith. Fortunately it was a slow day for the Lord and He answered my prayer.

I also remember the Angels being one pitch away from beating the Red Sox in the ALCS, before losing to them, which of course happened to Boston in the Series. I remember one Boston player saying, I always believed in karma, but I never knew it came around so fast.

 

I was a fan. I remember how wicked that split finger was, but it must
be said... He scuffed the ball No doubt about it

 

Thanks Clutch...thanks a bunch for dredging up memories that haunt me to this day.

I watched EVERY SINGLE PITCH of game six. Like Bob Knepper glued to the dugout railing from the ninth inning on, I could not move from the TV. Unlike most of you guys, I was 23 years old...old enough to know I was watching an historic game, and old enough to know I would never get over the feeling I felt when Bass struck out.

Thanks again Clutch. Man I'm depressed.

 

Even though that Astros team lost you could take pride in how the played against a TOTALLY loaded team of pitchers and hitters in the Mets. I remember Billy Hunter's (I think that was his name) drive pretty well when game 6 seemed over, if I recall it was pretty late EST as well--the timezone I was in at the time. I don't think we will look the same way about the late 90's early 00's Stros playoff disappointments.

 

It was Billy Hatcher.

Damn Behad, you are old

I taped the Scott no-hitter that clinched the pennant against the Giants. How sweet it was.

Here is some info on that team:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/HOU/1986.shtml

And the series:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1986_NLCS.shtml

 

0 for 2....his name was Hatcher, and the game was an afternoon start, so it wasn't that late in the evening for it's finish...unless it was past your bedtime!

 

That article was a great read. Of course you were right about the name Bob. I had forgotten the Stros had a 3 run lead going into the 9th of that game, but I am younger than Behad so I am not surprised I missed some big details Should have been them breaking Boston hearts, not the Mets.

That Mets team was great. Gary Carter, Keith Hernedez, Ray Knight, Lenny Dysktra, Mookie Wilson, on O if I recall, Doc (he was phenomenal post and regular season before his drug problems), Cone, Ojeda + I think 1 more formidable starter, with 2 tough relievers (Orasco was one). That shows how good Scott was to almost win the series for the Stros.

 

I was in the 7th-grade then, and football practice played prominent role in that whole time for me. . .

the night before the pennant-clincher against the Astros, I asked my Mom if I could miss school to go to that game with my stepdad. he had access to a box for that game. anyway, she thought I was asking her to drive me down to the Astrodome to see if we could get tickets, so she says, "No."

the next day, the football coaches at Quail Valley Junior High call me off the field with a puzzled look on their faces. they're all, "your mom's here to take you home."

I quickly changed clothes, and once in the car, she says, "I didn't realize he already had tickets. it's the 5th inning, and Mike Scott has a no-hitter."

I got to the dome in time to watch the last 3 innings of the no-no. the scene in the Astrodome that day and my memory of the silent Summit immediately after derrick mckey's lay-in after purvis short's go-ahead 3 against the Sonics are the two most vivid live sporting memories I have. one grand, one wretched.

and in the historic game 6, I remember our team waiting in the gymnasium to go out to practice. the coaches didn't want to take us out there because the game was so close. this was when it was still in regulation innings. but we went out and practiced anyways. we were all pissed.

so you can imagine my surprise when I got home an hour or so later [the coaches definitely abbreviated practice that day] and the game was still going.

'86 was just an amazing houston sports year in general. that was the first year I really ever started paying attention to baseball or basketball. I was born in dallas and had been a cowboys fan all my life. but once my mom and stepdad got married, he got me into the rockets and the astros.

and in a 6-month stretch, you had ralph sampson's shot, "BEAT LA!", mike scott's no-hitter and that series against the Mets.

what an introduction to the NBA and MLB. . .

 

Cone was not on the '86 Mets. So if you were just talking about the Mets of that era, you're OK, but if you were talking about the team that beat the Astros, you were mistaken.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/coneda01.shtml

 

Boy, my memory of that team and other aspects of that game is pretty bad. This is why eyewitness testimory is often so inaccurate and why the "recovered memory abuse" legal cases are so flimsy. I better quit while I am behind about recollections on the 86 series. I do remember Billy <i> Hatcher <i/> hitting that ball out of the park, I think

 

Cool site:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/1986.shtml.
It must have been Ron Darling I was thinking of instead of Cone. The 4th good starter was Sid Fernandez. The other relief pitcher (along with Orasco I was thinking of was Roger McDowell. I see they also had Rick Aguilera and Randy Myers. One hell of a pitching staff, though the last 2 would become better pitchers later. Maybe they were already good just couldn't get the work however..

I got the offensive players pretty much right. I forgot about Strawberry (big omisison, he used to be good) and few other good players (Backman, Kevin Mitchell-before he was great, George Foster-after he was great, HoJo-before he was great).

 

The inside story - Scott didn't scuff the ball, Doran did.

As the ball was thrown around, Bill Doran would scuff the ball for Scott. The umps never check the fielders, so they got away with it. Doran is now the third base coach for the Reds. When a ball is hit foul and he catches its, I always shout, "Let Doran have it for awhile".

As he was walking back to the dugout I said, "I am watching you when you get the ball". He kinda looked up one time and smiled.

Thats the story.

 

Bass did strike out to end the series....

 

I know that this was awesome series but it evokes the continuous upsets in Houston sports history.

1979 Cotton Bowl: Houston vs. Notre Dame, Montane engineers comeback with 2 minutes left. Irish win

1980/81 Astros: staff of Ryan, Richard and Niekro comes up short

1984 NCAA Championship game: Lorenzo Charles' dunk

1986: Rockets almost complete biggest upset in history, but falter against Bird and McHale, and co.

1986: Astros fall to Mets in 6

1993: Bills complete biggest comeback in history, overcoming 35-3 deficit in fourth to beat Oilers 41-38 in OT

1994: Montana does it again, leading KC past Oilers, in what was one of the best Oiler teams ever.

1997: Stockton's buzzer beater...

1998: Big Unit and Hampy not enough as Stros fall to the Padres

2001: Astros choke once again....

 

I was at the games of the Mets series. The unfortunate part about the 9th inning was the lead off triple. Hatcher got a bad break on a catchable ball.

Also, Ashby screwed up trying to bunt in the late innings. If I remember right there were Astro runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. A successful bunt would have possibly led to more runs.

I once read (but I don't remember the book) where Doran actually swallowed a piece of sandpaper before the umpires got to Scott.

I had tickets to the no-hitter by Scott but needed to go out of town. We gave them to my mother-in-law and her mother. In turned out well since my wife's grandmother was able to see that exciting event. She passed away the next year.

Game 6 was a very long game. Even though it was an afternoon start it did not end until well after 7 CDT.

After Game 1 of the Mets series, we went to the parking lot and our car (86 Firebird) was gone. It turned out that the security guys had it towed up near the dome when they found two guys trying to steal it. They had broken through the steering column when Astrodome security thwarted them (althouhg they were not caught).

 

colby -- where in the world did you get that doran story about scuffing?? i understand charlie kerfield was the third gunman on the grassy knoll, too!!!

this game was THE game that made me a huge sports fan and a HUGE astros fan (odd, huh?) I was sooo into that series. I was in 6th grade...an age where you've played sports long enough to have a pretty good understanding as to what is going on. I remember going nuts in Game 1 when Glenn Davis' homer stood up with Mike Scott's shutout...I specifically remember high-fiveing my father when Davis hit it! My dad let me stay home from school to watch game 6 (a great dad who recognized that sometimes life is more important than school!). Billy Doran was my favorite player because i grew up playing second base...when I saw him crying in the dugout after the game it broke my heart! That game was the most up and down rollercoaster event I've ever witnessed.

There is a book called "The Greatest Game Ever Played" by Jerry Izenburg. If you can get a copy of it, read it!! It covers the series as a whole and all the tensions that led up to game 6. It's his contention that at that time, that was the greatest game in any sport ever played. It's a great read and it works like a time machine to those of us who remember the series so well. As bad as I felt, I look back on that game and remember time spent with my father and a love for baseball and the 'stros. I know that sounds so corny, but sometimes sports are that magical. Of course...my dad and i both got in trouble when I stayed home to watch game 1 of the Celtics-Rockets later that year! (remember when the NBA Finals didn't start in mid-June -- and they actually played day games on weekdays!!!??)

 

Even as a Red Sox fan I can say the 1986 postseason was the greatest in the history of baseball. So much drama, exhilaration, and heartbreak. Although espn classic has aided my memory, I wish I was older than one at the time.