Parrish the thought !

[GAME 3 - Shea Stadium - Flushing, NY - MON 7, NYM 4 - 12 inn]

After taking the first two games of the series at home in Montreal the Expos traveled 6 hours down I-87 to play 2 vs the lowly Mets in the blue toilet in Flushing. The Mets might have been eliminated from post season contention, but they were not about to hand over two easy wins to their guests from the Great White North. Mets manager Andy Weirib said, "I play these games to win. I could be asleep right now if I didn't care". True to his word Andy's Mets carried a 2-0 lead into the 6th. Met starter Orel Hershiser was flat out fooling the Expo batters who looked very tight, in the opinion of this "humble" reporter. Montreal starter Scott Sanderson wasn't doing too poorly either. He and catcher Gary Carter mixed up their signals in the bottom of the second and it cost them when Brian McRae stole home on the front half of a double steal. Carter inexcusably threw to second when he could have easily tagged McRae out at the plate.

Sanderson signaled to Carter to throw through, which he errantly did. Another sign that Andy's Mets came to play and the Expos were tighter than a drum in the Grambling marching band. In the bottom of the 5th the Mets struck again when Rickey Henderson doubled with one out and John Olerud singled him home with a clutch two out two strike hit. The Expos would finally getting into the scoring column in the top of the 6th. Sanderson led off with a single and wound up on second with two out when "the hawk", Andre Dawson, doubled off the 410 sign in straight away center to score him. Kid Carter flew out to end the inning, but the Expos were now on the board and down by only 1. The top of the 9th saw the Mets bring on their close Armando Benitez. His task was simple: close out the game and close out the Expos season. The Mets were relishing their role as spoiler.

Ellis Valentine led off the inning with a week foul pop up that Piazza caught right behind home plate. Armando Benitez was ringing up the juggs gun at around 98mph. Up stepped the slumping Larry Parrish, who had recently been demoted from the 3 spot to the 6th spot in the order.

Parrish, who had been hitting .246, hadn't had many hits this season. His next hit would be his biggest. Benitez blew two fastballs by him and immediately Parrish was in an 0-2 hole. With Met fans standing up and clapping with a two strike count (a local custom started by Yankee fans in 1978 with Ron Guidry), Benitez came with the gas. This time Parrish was waiting and as fast as it came in, that as fast as it left the ball park. When Benitez' 0-2 offering finally came to rest it was sitting in the back of the visitors bullpen in left field. Montreal had life. Benitez was removed from the game for failure to get the job done. The Mets went 3 up and 3 down in the bottom of the 9th and the game went into extra innings. After an uneventful 10th inning Montreal jumped all over the Mets 7th pitcher of the day, Greg McMichael. A combination of walks, wild pitches and missed fielding opportunities gave the Expos a 4-2 lead and the Mets were now down to their last 3 outs. To get those 3 outs Montreal went with their enigmatic closer, Elias Sosa. Olerud singled sharply to center to lead off the inning. Up stepped future HOF'er Mike Piazza. Two pitches later Mike crushed a Sosa breaking ball that still hasn't broken into the picnic area in left center field to tie the game. The Shea faithful called Mike out for a curtain call as "the apple" came up in celebration of the game tying clout. The top of the 12th saw the Expos rise back up again from

the dead and resurrect their dying season. Rodney Scott led off with a clean single off of Rigo Beltran, the 8th Met pitcher of the day. Curiously Andre Dawson was tasked with bunting. His effort was lackluster to say the least as the ball went right back to Beltran who easily pegged the speedy Scott out at second. Dawson must have felt like horsebleep for his lack of execution, but he made up for it by stealing second and advancing to third when Piazza's throw was airmailed into center. At this point the Expos had Valentine on third with one out and Carter up. Carter and then Valentine were both given intentional passes to create a force at every base. With the runners in motion the now hot Larry Parrish singled to the opposite field to plate all three runners and give the Expos a commanding 3 run lead. Sosa got 3 quiet outs in the bottom of the frame and the Expos stole themselves a win vs the Mets who battled them as if "their" pennant was on the line.