Maine Event Is a Prelim

The St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets have gone to Game 7, the National League Championship Series strung as far as it can go and as unpredictable as it can be, the Detroit Tigers still out there. Waiting.

When Mets closer Billy Wagner composed himself and got the final out -- David Eckstein batting as the potential tying run, blue-and-orange-draped fans wrung to their last nerve ending -- the Mets were 4-2 winners Wednesday night at Shea Stadium.

They go to Game 7 on the arm of John Maine and the bats that were just productive enough against Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, and now hand the baseball to left-hander Oliver Perez, who lost 13 of 16 decisions in the regular season and will be pitching on three days’ rest.

The Cardinals, who rallied for two runs against Wagner in the ninth but had two hits between the first inning and then, will start Jeff Suppan, who shut out the Mets for eight innings five days ago.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Mets right fielder Shawn Green, whose fourth-inning single drove in the Mets’ second run. “It’s been a crazy series, an emotional roller coaster for everybody. The rainouts, the late-night flights. And tomorrow, both teams are going to come at each other with everything.”

It’s all they have left; one game for a World Series berth, that series beginning Saturday in Detroit.

Albert Pujols, the Cardinals slugger who had two hits and was in the hole when Eckstein grounded to second, shook his head gravely.

“The best thing about this game, somebody’s going to go home tomorrow and somebody’s going to go to Detroit,” he said. “Hopefully, that’ll be us.”

The Cardinals played an NLCS Game 7 only two years ago, against the Houston Astros. In St. Louis, Suppan beat Roger Clemens. The Cardinals were then swept by the Boston Red Sox.

Oliver will pitch in the place of Steve Trachsel, who, in Game 3, retired two of the first 12 Cardinals, was hit in the leg by a batted ball, and left a mess for the Mets’ bullpen. Darren Oliver, also an option to start tonight, followed with six shutout innings.

The Mets last experienced a Game 7 in 1988, where they lost to the eventual World Series champion Dodgers. Orel Hershiser beat Ron Darling, 6-0.

Of Suppan, Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds said, “A guy like that is great for the postseason because he’s so calm and so under control.”

Mets Manager Willie Randolph told Perez on Wednesday evening that he’d pitch in a Game 7. After the victory, Perez said, Randolph told him again. While the Cardinals have proven to be susceptible to zeros against left-handers, they hit Perez decently in Game 4, scoring five runs in 5 2/3 innings.

“Oliver Perez?” Edmonds said, hearing about it for the first time. “Well, it’s nothing new. It’s something we’ve seen plenty of.”

Without the injured Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez, Perez was on the postseason roster, pitched gamely in his only start, and now faces the assignment of his baseball life.

“What happened in the season, it’s over,” Perez said. “I was having a bad season. But, right now, we’re in the postseason. Everything’s different.”

He added that he was “very excited” and “relaxed” for the start.

He’ll have it because Maine, the six-game winner in the regular season who did not get a decision in either previous start these playoffs, threw 5 1/3 shutout innings against the Cardinals.

And because Jose Reyes, not a dynamic figure in either of the Mets’ October series, homered on Carpenter’s third pitch, had two other hits, stole two bases and scored twice.

And because Paul Lo Duca, who had one previous RBI in the series, drove in two runs with a two-out, seventh-inning single.

And because three Mets relievers -- Chad Bradford, Guillermo Mota and Aaron Heilman -- pitched well enough to give Wagner his ninth-inning, slider-happy cushion.

It leaves them -- and the Cardinals -- one more game. They’ll all show up in suits, bags packed, flight plans left vacant, champagne spread evenly among clubhouses.

“You never know what tomorrow’s going to bring,” Mets third baseman David Wright said. “You have the opportunity. I’ve laid in bed and thought about having my name called at this ballpark next year and getting a World Series ring.”

First things first. There’s a Game 7 tonight.

tim.brown@latimes.com

*

NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

New York vs. St. Louis

Series tied, 3-3

* Game 6: New York 4, St. Louis 2

* Game 7: Tonight at New York

5:15 PDT, Channel 11

Probable starters:

Jeff Suppan (12-7, 4.12)

Oliver Perez (3-13, 6.55)