LIRR Closes the Gap to Shea [J. Mark English]

Shea Stadium will be much closer to the LIRR:

On Wednesday, officials of North America's largest commuter railroad announced that the LIRR will reduce the gap at eight stations, including the Shea Stadium stop in Queens.

But perhaps the LIRR really has closed in on the Land of Oz. With the Mets, every playoff game at Shea seems like something out of a land of fantasy...mystical...dreamlike. Bob Elliott of Slam Sports adds more to this way of thinking:

The scoreboard started with a whisper: "There's no place like home," said Judy Garland in a clip from the Wizard of Oz.

"There's no place like home," she repeated and clicked her red slippers.

There's no place like Shea Stadium for the New York Mets, who clicked for a 4-2 win over the red-slippered St. Louis Cardinals to force a Game 7 of the NLCS tonight.

And what happens tonight?

Lefty Oliver Perez gets the ball for the Mets....

Before a pitch was thrown last night, the rickety old structure was rocking with a clip from the movie Hoosiers as the coach inspired his troops. The blaring music was loud enough to wake the sleeping and some of the dead in a Long Island grave yard...

About the only place other than the borough of Queen's where the cheers were louder last night were in Michigan, where the Detroit Tigers sit with their feet up.