10/1 - Shea Stadium - GAME 1
Mets 2, Pirates 1
These two teams know each other well since they played 4 games against each other during the regular season and finishe 1-2 in the NL East. Big Shea was a buzz with the Mets first Post season appearance in 8 seasons. Nothing says post season baseball like a rabid crowd in Flushing. Pat Zachry (6-3, 3.16) was scheduled to go up against 40 year old Rip Sewell. That matchup lasted all of 2 innings before the elder statesman, Sewell, would develop arm trouble and have to leave the game. Heading into the 3rd inning Sewell and the Bucs had a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Ralph Kiner RBI single that scored Frankie Gustine. The Amazin's would strike back in the third with 2 runs. Doug Flynn would lead it off with a single and Zachry would bunt him over to second. On that play Sewell would injury his arm and leave the game. Nick Strincevich was given the ball and tasked with getting out of a moderate jam. When Frank Taveras grounded out to short and Flynn moved to
third all looked good for the Bucs, until Strincevich uncorked a wild pitch, which allowed Flynn to score the tying run. John Stearns would hit a bullet that ate up Gustine at third allowing "the Dude" to gain safe passage to first. Mets MVP candidate Lee Mazzilli crushed a 2 out double off the 410 mark in dead center to score Stearns and give Zachry a 2-1 lead. Nobody in attendance had an inkling that no more runs would be posted and the game would end 2-1. Of course the game would have some theatrics before it was all said and done. With Neil Allen on board to close it out for Zachry in the 9th Ralph Kiner led off the inning. All Pittsburgh needed was one mighty swing from the future HOF'ers bat. What they got was 3 whiffs and a strike out. Wally Westlake picked up his teammate by singling to center. Pinch hitter Clyde Kluttz flew out to Steve Henderson in left for the second out of the inning. Culley Rikard was called on to pinch hit and he hit a one hop bullet that was heading for the hole between first and second. Right off the bat the ball had "single...first and 
third" written all over it. Unfortunately for the Bucs the ball was all over Wally Westlake’s left ankle. What should have been an inning extender putting runners on the corners was a game ender thanks to a hit runner. What a strange way to end a post season game, but the Flushing faithful were in no position not to take it and smile.
10/2 - Shea Stadium - GAME 2
Mets 13, Pirates 6
Kirby Higbe once said of his teammates, "I can't pitch when they are drunk out there." His manager Bill Herman inquired "Who's Drunk". Higbe replied "Everyone". Judging by Higbe's performance in game 2 one could infer that maybe he was hitting the bottle himself. By the time Higbe was gone after 6 innings of work he had given up 13 runs on 11 hits. 10 of those runs were earned, as if one needed further clarity that it quite possibly wasn't all his fault. On thing you didn't need a crystal ball to predict was the fact that the Mets had their hitting shoes on. The bottom on New York's order seemed to do most of the damage. Doug Flynn went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI's out of the 8 hole and Ray Burris would knock in 3 runs himself. Speaking of Burris all looked good for him until the 6th when he lost interest with a 13-1 lead and 
started laying the ball over the middle of the plate. One can hardly blame the tall righthander, who was trying to make the game move quicker. Steve Henderson would go 3 for 5 for the Amazin's. Billy Cox and Wally Westlake would hit the only 2 homers of the game in a losing effort. New York was 1 win away from heading to the NLCS.
10/4 - Forbes Field - GAME 3
Pirates 3, Mets 0
Pittsburgh needed a command performance from Fritz
Ostermueller. What they got was exactly what they needed. Ostermueller scattered 8 hits, while fanning 4 for a complete game shutout. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 6th when the Pirates would score all three of their runs on the day. Ralph Kiner would break the ice with a lead off homer. Jimmy Bloodworth would single home Hank Greenberg for the second run and Ostermueller would bunt Dixie Howell home for the third and final run of the day. Mark Bomback would be the hard luck loser for the Mets. Bomback was matching Ostermueller inning for inning until the 6th when he lost his shutout and for all intents and purposes lost the game. Tom Hausman would pitch the final 2 uneventful innings for the Mets. Lee Mazzilli would have a 3 for 4 day, but would never get past second base. Pittsburgh did what it needed to do to avoid elimination and stay alive in the series.
10/5 - Forbes Field - GAME 4
Mets 3, Pirates 2
There is an old axiom that says, "the hardest win is the close out win in a playoff series". This game proved that point to a "T". Oft-injured Craig Swan (3-1, 4.01) would try his hand at closing out the Bucs for the Mets. Tiny Bonham (4-3, 2.31) would have a tougher assignment: stave off elimination and force a decisive game 5. The Mets got on the board in the top of the first thanks to a sac fly by Mazzilli that scored Frank Taveras. New York threatened to score more runs, but Bonham would have nothing of that. In the bottom of the 1st the power combo of Ralph Kiner and Hank Greenberg struck for back to back jacks. Prodigy and mentor
both have prodigious swings and both make even the biggest of ballparks look like bandboxes. Pittsburgh's 2-1 lead was short lived as Claudell Washington lined a single to right to score Mazzilli to tie it up at 2-2. That's how it would stay for the next 4 innings as the tension began to mount even more at Forbes Field. In the top of the 8th Mike Jorgensen worked out a walk with 1 out. Joel Youngblood grounded weakly to short to push Jorgy up 90 feet with 2 out. With the pitcher on deck the Pirates still decided to pitch to Doug Flynn and it cost them. The "country boy" bounced a seeing eye hit over the bag at second to easily score Jorgensen, who was running on the pitch, to make it 3-2. Swan would come out for the 8th inning and in dominant fashion strike out the side. Billy Cox, Ralph Kiner and Hank Greenberg all went down 
swinging. Swan had himself 4 k's in a row dating back to the 7th when he fanned Gustine for the final out of that inning. Neil Allen would be charged with closing out the game and the series in relief of Swan who gave New York everything they could have hoped for. The bottom of the 9th was uneventful as Pittsburgh went down in order and the Amazin's booked a charter to the NLCS vs Cincy.
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