Ultimate Mets Database: Game of October 7, 1973

THE ULTIMATE METS DATABASE IS NOT AFFILIATED IN ANY WAY WITH THE NEW YORK METS OR MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.

- All-Time Roster Every Met player... EVER!
- Mug Shots The pretty ones and the ugly ones -- we have them all!
- Player Awards Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Hall of Fame, and more.
- Transactions Over a thousand player transactions -- in chronological order!
- Managers & Coaches The men who have led the Mets, and the men who helped them.
- Mets Staff Executives, General Managers, Broadcasters, and more. (And Jane Jarvis too!)
- Birth Places Perfect for planning your Mets pilgrimages!
- Oldest Living Mets See which Mets players have spent the most time walking the Earth.
- Necrology Mets players and personnel who are no longer with us.

- Game Results
  All the wins, all the losses. Includes box scores and score cards!
- Opening Day
  The first day of each season! See the starting lineups, who started at each position year-by-year, and leaders by position.
- Walkoff Wins & Losses
  Interactively search for the happiest and saddest endings to Mets games.
- Postseason Games How the Mets have fared in the games that count the most!
- No-Hitters & One-Hitters See a list of every no-hitter and one-hitter pitched by the Mets, or against them. One of these categories was frustratingly empty for over fifty years, but not anymore!
- All-Star Games Mets who have appeared in baseball's Mid-Summer Classic
- Opponents & Ballparks See the Mets won-lost record against every team, and in every ballpark in which they've played!
- Daily Standings What was the Mets' pennant outlook on any given day in past seasons?
- Yearly Finishes The heights and the depths: the Mets won-lost record at the end of each season.
- Mayor's Trophy Games A look back at the long-ago annual series between the Mets and their Bronx rivals.

- Leaderboards Career, season, and individual game leaders at your fingertips!
- Team Leaders Players who led the Mets in various categories, from season to season.
- Decade Leaders Mets history broken down into ten-year chunks!
- Post-Season Leaders Mets leaders, by category, in post-season games

- Ultimate Mets Scrapbook The history of the Mets, as it was reported when it happened!
- Forum Visit the Crane Pool Forum to discuss the Mets and just about anything else!
- Fan Memories Insightful. Poignant. Thrilling. Somber. Nutty. Our visitors have submitted thousands of thoughts and memories of the Mets and the games they've played.
- Mets Uniforms It's more than just laundry! Trace the evolution of the Mets official uniform over the years.
- Uniform Numbers In association with Mets By the Numbers, we present a full history of who wore what number, and when!/li>
- Baseball Cards Our collection of home-made baseball cards, in the style of the classic Topps cards of the 1970's.
- This Date in Mets History Births, Deaths, Transactions, Newspaper Covers

- Contact Us
- FAQ Frequently Asked Questions

Previous Game:
October 6, 1973
Reds 2, Mets 1 1973 League Championship Series Game 2
October 7, 1973
Mets 5, Reds 0 Next Game:
October 8, 1973
Mets 9, Reds 2

Click to view scorecard

Box Score Game Memories Scorecard Mets Stats
Thru This Game

METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE OCTOBER 7, 1973 GAME:

LenDog
June 15, 2003
Wow...surprised that I'm the first to post on this fantastic game.

As I mentioned in the Jon Matlack memories section, this was hands down the best game ever pitched by a NY Met. Ranks up there with best post-season performances in MLB history.

Mets were down 1 game to 0 in a best of 5, on the road against the Big Red Machine. Matlack pitched a two-hit shuthout. Just amazing, and clutch as can be.

The two Cincy hits were by Andy Kosko, of all people. I assume JM went the whole nine. Will look that up in a minute. Does anyone else miss those days, when a manager let a pitcher go the whole way?

I can't stand this Tony LaRussa crap that is now the standard operating procedure: go to your eight innning guy and then go to your ninth inning guy. That template would have made this '73 gem just another bland victory by committee.

Metman
August 5, 2009
Just so you know Lendog you were right. John Matlack did go all 9 innings. And Andy Kasco did get both hits. Also even if this was current day baseball, any manager would let John Matlack go all 9.

ClassicMets
October 11, 2017
Jon Matlack stifled the Big Red Machine with a two-hit shutout. Matlack struck out nine batters and the NLCS was even at one win each. Rusty Staub slugged a solo homer and the Mets collected five singles in the ninth inning for four more runs. Great game.

Andy Kosco singled for both Cincinnati hits. I remember Kosco also hitting a drive down the left field line that was over the wall, but foul by inches. Kosco, Sparky Anderson and a few coaches argued the call to no avail.

Joseph Santoro
April 3, 2019
LenDog, I couldn't agree with you more. Baseball was so much better back then with pitchers going all the way. Could you imagine Ray Sadecki or Harry Parker coming in, in the eighth? They would have pitched to 2 pinch hitters, then Rose...who knows what could have happened.

Dave VW
February 10, 2025
Perhaps it's because I grew up in the new generation of baseball, but, as I was listening to this game on YouTube, I would have advocated for Matlack to be done after 7 innings, for two main reasons. First, he had developed a blister that needed attention by the training staff during the 7th inning, so I had no idea what his level of effectiveness was going to be afterwards. And second, he was due to bat in the top of the 8th, and once Don Hahn led off with a walk, I thought for sure the Mets would use Buddy Harrelson to bunt him over and then bring in pinch-hitting extraordinaire Ken Boswell for Matlack to try to get the run home. Then I would go with Tug McGraw over the final 2 innings to get the save.

However, I knew that wasn't going to be the strategy when Yogi had Harrelson swing away instead of sacrifice. Harrelson flew out, then Matlack sacrificed to put Hahn on second with 2 outs. I don't agree with that plan, but all's well that ends well.

It ended well mostly thanks to a 9th inning during which the Mets' bats finally woke up. After 17 innings combining for 2 runs and 5 hits, the Mets had 7 straight batters reach base in the 9th thanks to 5 singles, a walk and an intentional pass.

But of course the main story was Matlack. Making his postseason debut, the left-hander was superb. It was only the second 2-hitter in LCS history, following Ross Grimsley of these Reds, who did it the previous season. It's also still the only 2-hitter in Mets postseason history, although Bobby Jones topped him with a 1-hitter during the playoffs in 2000. What made it even more impressive is that he did it against the Reds, who tied with the Braves for the fewest shutouts in the NL with 8 in 1973.

You know good things are bound to happen when you hold Rose, Morgan, Perez and Bench a combined 0-for-16.

Now it's your turn! Tell us what you remember of this game:

Please note:
We're looking for your comments about this specific game. We've had people use this space to share their thoughts on how the current season is going, or on ways that the Mets can improve the team. Such comments, unless in the context of this particular game, will be considered off-topic and will be removed.

Example One
The Mets suck! They need to trade Smith and get somebody like Jones.
This comment is off-topic and will be removed. It has nothing to do with any specific game. But here's an acceptable alternative:

Example Two
The Mets suck! Smith made three errors in this game, and hit into a double play, and the Mets blew a 5-0 lead. They need to get rid of Smith and get somebody like Jones.
See the difference? Here you're getting the same point across, but it's in the proper context. We wouldn't consider this message to be off-topic, and we would let it remain.

We do appreciate anybody who takes the time to share their thoughts on our site, and we hate to remove anybody's postings. But if we didn't take steps to ensure that only on-topic messages were retained, The Ultimate Mets Database would become a confusing jumble of unrelated comments, and would thus be less enjoyable to visitors like you.

Thank you!