Adam Wainwright 20 Years Later: 'Mets Fans Hate Me So Much!'

Before Yadier Molina ever put down the two fingers to call for the two-strike, two-out curveball in Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series, and before Adam Wainwright ever gripped the baseball for his famous/infamous, knee-buckling “Uncle Charlie,” the two St. louis Cardinals legends had a frank, pregame planning session to discuss how the pivotal moment would unfold.

As it turns out, a lot of scouting, pregame preparation and a whole lot of gumption went into arguably the most famous pitch thrown in the storied history of the St. Louis Cardinals 20 years ago today against the New York Mets.

“Going into that Game 7, we had seen (then-Mets star Carlos) Beltran a lot and we had been paying attention to all his at bats,” Wainwright recalled in September during the 20-year reunion for the Cardinals’ 2006 team that shocked the Padres, Mets and Tigers in the playoffs to win the World Series.

“(Beltran) would get 0-2 a lot and then it would be 3-2 really quickly right after because he would put his bat on his shoulder while we were trying to get him to chase in and out, up and down,” Wainwright continued. “He was so keying in on the middle of the plate and he would never chase. So, Yadi and I meet before the game and we said, ‘If we get him 0-2, we’re going to throw a strike.’ We got to 0-2 and I was like, ‘Oh boy, here we go. Are we actually going to throw him a strike?’

“Luckily we were able to execute that pitch, but that’s why preparation is so important.”

As it turns out, Wainwright’s big, bending curveball froze Beltran for strike three in the bottom of the ninth to preserve a 3-1 win and send the Cardinals to the World Series. Even now, 20 years later, the curveball to Beltran is the pitch Wainwright gets asked the most about during a career where he won 200 games and set the all-time MLB pitcher-catcher battery record with Molina.

“That’s the moment I get asked about nine out of 10 (times) from my whole career,” Wainwright said with a wry smile. “I never get asked about the (2006) World Series. I mean, never, never, never (asked about the World Series). I guess it’s because we kind of thumped (the Tigers) a little bit. But that Game 7 (of the NLCS) was so dramatic.”

With the series tied at 3 after the Mets beat Chris Carpenter and won Game 6 at Shea Stadium, the two teams remained locked in a dramatic 1-1 tie until the ninth inning. New York scored in the first inning when David Wright singled in Beltran, and the Cards knotted the score on the second inning when Ronnie Belliard lofted a sacrifice fly ball into the outfield to score Jim Edmonds from third base.

Cardinals starting pitcher Jeff Suppan was brilliant over seven innings, limiting the Mets to two hits and one run while striking out five. Cardinals' lefty Randy Flores, who would later go on to work for the Cards as their assistant general manager, struck out two, pitched a scoreless eighth inning and was credited with the win.   

The taut, tense game would get to the ninth tied before Molina turned on an Aaron Heilman pitch and hit it over the wall in left field to a tiebreaking, two-run homer. The visions of Molina lifting both hands overhead as he’s running down the first base line, are about as iconic to Cardinals fans as the curveball that froze Beltran. The pitch decision – to throw arguably baseball’s hottest hitter at the time a curveball over the heart of the plate – was solely Molina’s and Wainwright executed it perfectly.

That’s something that Mets’ fans still remind Wainwright about 20 years after the fact.

“Mets fans hate me so much,” Wainwright said with glee. “Last (spring) when the Knicks were playing (in the NBA playoffs) and they had like a six-point lead with 40 seconds left and they blew it. I was in the room (in New York) with all these Mets fans who were also Knicks fans and as soon as they blew it, they looked over at me and said, ‘That was you! You did that!’ They blame me for everything.

“My favorite troll from a fan came a couple of years ago when it was like my second to last year playing (in 2022),” Wainwright continued. “This guy in the stands yells out, ‘WAINWRIGHT!’ And everybody was like, ‘Ohhh, what is he going to say?’ He goes, ‘You ruined my life in the fourth grade!’ I was so proud of that moment. That’s Mets fans for you!”