The New York Mets had several thrilling wins in 2006 as they marched to a division title. On August 22, they had a spirited comeback victory at Shea Stadium over the St. Louis Cardinals, led by both Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran.

Setting the stage, there was not much of a race for the division title when the Mets entered play on August 22. They were in first place and held a 13.5-game lead. They had won four games in a row, including a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies at Shea.

The game began with John Maine pitching for the Mets against Jeff Weaver of the Cardinals. New York jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a home run in the bottom of the second inning by Carlos Delgado. However, Albert Pujols slugged a three-run home run off Maine in the top of the fourth inning, and St. Louis held a 3-1 lead. (For reference, that was Pujols’ 239th homer of his career. He just hit in 677th Saturday against the Mets.)

In the top of the fifth inning, Pujols struck again, this time sending one over the wall with the bases loaded, vaulting the Cardinals to a 7-1 lead. However, Delgado matched Pujols in the bottom of the fifth inning, driving a grand slam home run (the 400th home run of his career) to right field, bringing the Mets close at 7-5.

The Mets would draw a run closer off Adam Wainwright in the bottom of the sixth inning, when a Jose Reyes ground out scored Endy Chavez. The score would remain 7-6 until the Mets prepared to take their last at-bat in the bottom of the ninth inning off a former Met, Cardinals’ closer Jason Isringhausen.

Reyes led off the inning by grounding our to second base. Paul Lo Duca followed with a single to center field, bringing up Beltran. The Mets’ center fielder ripped the first pitch he saw deep into the Queens night for a two-run home run and a Mets’ victory. You can see Beltran’s heroics in the video below.

Earlier in the 2006 season, Beltran had sent the Flushing faithful home happy by hitting a walk-off home run against the Phillies in the 16th inning. This time, he victimized the Cardinals.

We know that the 2006 season did not end the way the Mets and the fans would have hoped. However, that team provided many thrills, and a divisional dominance from start to finish that no Mets team has been able to since replicate.

The 2006 season was fun (until the middle of October). With the struggles of 2021 team of late, let’s hope that there are more moments like this one in our near future.