D-Whit - It Was 45 Years Ago Today...Monday September 15th 1969

August 15^th

Swoboda's two HR's help catapult the Mets to victory

The Mets visited the 1968 NL Pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals for a two game series. Game one was a see-saw battle between the two teams. St. Louis scored first on Vada Pinson’s RBI single of Curt Flood off Gary Gentry in the 3^rd. Donn Clendenon led off the top of the 4^th with a walk and the next batter Ron Swoboda drilled a Steve Carlton pitch out of the park-putting New York up 2-1.

In the 5^th it was the Cardinal’s turn to take the lead again. Lou Brock singled with two out, and then swiped second, setting up a Flood RBI single. Pinson then singled, putting runners on the corners. Joe Torre ripped a single to left-center-driving in Flood. 

The Cardinals held serve again with a 3-2 advantage until the top of the 8^th. Tommie Agee singled. Carlton then whiffed Clendenon but gave up his second longball of the game to Swoboda, whose 9^th HR of the year gave New York a 4-3 lead. Tug McGraw put two on with one out in the 9^th but worked out of the jam-picking up his 6^th victory of the season.

The fading Cubs lost to Montreal so now the Mets lead was 4.5 games.