Two months earlier, Gary Carter tore the cartilage in his right knee. It forced him to skip the All-Star Game and nearly derailed his season as he contemplated surgery. Instead, Carter postponed any operation in favor of vying for the postseason, wore a brace, and opened up his stance to prevent further pain.

By September, he was the Mets’ best power hitter while calling pitches for an emerging rotation led by Dwight Gooden. Carter began the month capping a three-game set at Candlestick Park in which he went deep in each game versus the Giants. After going homerless in the opener against Padres but still being 3-for-5, Gary matched what he did in San Francisco in one evening at Jack Murphy Stadium.

Each of Carter’s three hits were homers and they collectively brought in six runs in an 8-3 New York victory, continuing as remarkable a power display in Mets history.

Carter struck quickly on Pads’ starter Dave Dravecky, rocketing a 1-1 first inning pitch into the left-field seats. Three innings later, another offering from the left-hander was pulled over the wall. It gave Carter 22 homers for the year and surpassed Darryl Strawberry for the lead among Mets. That lead lasted about two minutes. Darryl connected later in the inning.

But they didn’t stay tied for long. In the fifth, Dravecky got one out, then allowed singles to Tom Paciorek and Keith Hernandez before exiting in favor Luis DeLeon. He got the unfavorable task of facing Carter. DeLeon got two strikes on Gary before leaving one over the plate, a pitch Carter was sure not to miss. It was his third homer, another to left field, and certainly his most prodigious.

Gary now had hit six home runs in his last five contests, ending the evening with 11 hits in his last 21 times at bat. And he wasn’t done. The next night, Carter tallied two more homers to become the 13th player to hit five round-trippers in consecutive games and the first since former Met Dave Kingman did it as a Chicago Cub in 1979.

In six games on this west coast trip, Carter belted eight homers and drove in 13. His 25 home runs and 74 RBIs were new franchise records by a catcher. He also batted .560 with 14 hits in 25 times at bat, raising his season batting average by 18 points to .284.

“In my 11 years, I never had a streak like this, a feeling like this,” Carter said. “I wish I could bottle it.”

Carter’s aching legs nearly carried the Mets to the top of the NL East. He would hit 19 home runs over the final two-plus months of the regular season with 52 driven in and a 1.051 OPS after September 1 as New York wound up three games short of the St. Louis Cardinals.