9/1 - 9/2 - Braves Field - Boston, MA
GAME 1 - Mets 6, Braves 2
Seaver (3-1, 2.32) vs Spahn (3-2, 2.74), arguably a matchup of the best lefty of the post war era vs the best righty. It doesn't get any better than this. Tom Seaver was nursing a 1 run lead since the 2nd inning, when Joe Torre singled home Del Unser with 2 out. With the score 1-0 and everyone on the edge of their seats for 5 full innings it all came undone with one pitch. With 2 outs the Mets proceeded to load the bases. Jesus Alou and Rusty Staub singled. Dave Kingman was given an unintentional / intentional walk. Basically Spahn tried to paint the corners with the hope that the undisciplined Kingman would go fishing, which he shockingly did not. That brought up Del Unser, who by any standard is NOT a
power hitter. This was a great matchup for Spahn, since Unser is a lefty and Spahn is poison to lefties. Well baseball is a game of inches and Spahn's 2-2 delivery caught too much of the middle of the plate. Unser hit it on the screws and lined it over the center field fence to make it 5-0 Mets. Seaver would let down and lose his shutout in the home half of the inning and eventually leave the game after 8 fantastic innings only to see Harry Parker try to make it interesting. Thankfully for the Mets he got a double play ball by Roy Hartsfield with the bases loaded to seal the deal.
GAME 2 - Mets 6, Braves 3
Hard luck Jerry Koosman (1-3, 2.37) finally got some run support and notched his first win of the season. Max Surkont was flat out terrible allowing 6 runs in 8+ innings of work to the mediocre Met lineup. Bob Apodaca came on to pitch the 9th and worked himself into a save opportunity before he finally closed it out. He was completely unimpressive to be honest and should not have been afforded the statistical save. Rookie backup catcher John “Dude” Stearns went 4 for 5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Rumor out of the Met clubhouse has it that Jerry Grote's days as a starter are now numbered as the Mets are looking to get younger and break up the core of their 69/73 pennant winners.
9/3 - Shea Stadium - Flushing, NY
GAME 3 - Braves 5, Mets 1 (13 inn)
The Braves finally found the formula to beat the Mets: 7 pitchers over 13 innings, then explode for 4 huge runs in the 13th and make it look like a cake walk. Both teams banged out 11 hits, but could only manage 1 run apiece for 12 innings. Add to the misery was the fact that this was a dark and gloomy day where it rained on and off and even caused a 10 minute delay in the 2nd. By the time the game ended there were approximately 2,200 fans left at Shea. That would be a 4 to 1 ratio of fans to flying hot dog wrappers that the wind continued to swirl around the huge ballpark in Flushing. The Mets in the 4th, when Del Unser led off with a triple off the 410 sign in dead center. Stearns grounded out weakly to short to score Unser with what turned out to be the Mets only run on the day. Randy Tate broke out of his shell and had a fantastic performance. By the time he tired and left for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 7th he was still on the positive side of the ledger. Tom Hall and Ken Sanders worked the 8th inning in tandem to set the Braves down. Sanders started the 9th, but was no match for the genius lefty/right pinch hitting swaps that manager Terry Priest made. In an unorthodox, but
highly successful move, manager Priest pinch hit for clean up hitter Sid Gordon with lefty Bob Addis, who singled. Ebba St. Claire was brought in to hit for #5 guy Bob Elliott and he too singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Willard Marshall then single to tie the game and just like that the Mets were on the ropes. Sanders got aggressive and got his act together and fanned the next three hitters (Sisti, Hartsfield and pinch hitter Tommy Holmes) to end the inning. Unfortunately for the fans Sanders couldn't do this to start the inning. The Mets went down in order in the 9th and on to extra innings they went. Folks began to head for the 7 train and inning by inning the war of attrition saw less and less fans in the stands. Hank Webb came on for the Mets and pitched 2 scoreless innings (11th/12th), but the 13th would be his undoing 
when Sam Jethroe led off with a triple in the gap. Webb then struck out Torgeson for the 1st out. Walker Cooper and Bob Addis were both give intentional passes to load the bases and create a force everywhere. Luis Marquez was called on to pinch hit and he delivered a line shot single to right to score Jethroe. Slow footed Cooper tried to score and was nailed at the plate by a laser from Rusty Staub, but the Braves now had a 2-1 lead. Marshall was given an intentional pass to create a force opportunity. Sibbi Sisti walked on 4 pitches to force in a run and Roy Hartsfield singled to score 2 more and blow the doors of Webb's wagon. The Mets went quietly in the bottom of the 12th after Kingman singled and Unser grounded into a DP. Stearns was caught looking at strike 3 from Nichols to end it.
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