National League Standings, August 5, 1996
METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE AUGUST 5, 1996 GAME:
Dave VW
August 14, 2023
This was 70s night at Wrigley Field. On WGN, they brought back the Cubs broadcast team from the decade to call an inning, which was certainly better than listening to Harry Carey make drunken comments while people watching in the stands.
The Mets played a lot like it was still the late 1970s, too. Paul Wilson was all over the place, walking two, throwing a pair of wild pitches, hitting a batter, and giving up back to back homers to Mark Grace and Sammy Sosa in the 3rd inning. The offense looked meek against slowpoke Steve Trachsel, outside of Alvaro Espinoza's first homer as a Met and Todd Hundley's 34th homer of the season. This was actually the 21st consecutive game in which the Mets hit a home run, which still stands as the team record. On top of it all, Butch Huskey pulled his hamstring beating out an error during garbage time in the 9th inning, and he'd be out until rosters expanded in September. A total crappy game from start to finish.
There was also a play in the 2nd inning I couldn't believe. Cubs catcher Scott Servais led off hitting an infield grounder that appeared to be an easy out, but the throw was a little high to Huskey at 1B. Huskey caught it and Servais was out by a mile, but as he ran through the base, he elbowed the ball out of Huskey's glove, and 1B umpire Brian Gorman ruled Servais safe. How is that not illegal? I remember when Arod tried to slap the ball out of a defender's grasp vs. Boston one time and that was ruled illegal, so why was this play different? As soon as the ball was secure in Huskey's glove, that play should have been over and the ball dead; otherwise, what's to prevent every runner going down the first base line trying to wrestle the ball away from the 1B in an effort to be called safe? It was just an awful call and further evidence why I'm so glad instant replay is now a thing.
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