Dave VW
January 27, 2024
I'm certainly no Mel Rojas advocate, but I don't think it's very fair he gets all the blame for blowing the lead in this game. Al Leiter put 2 runners on base with 1 out in the 7th before departing in favor of Greg McMichael, who gave up an RBI single to Greg Vaughn and a walk to Jim Leyritz without retiring a batter, making it 6-3. The bases now loaded, that's when the Mets went with Rojas to face a bunch of left-hand hitters, as Rojas, despite being a righty, had very strong numbers vs. lefties. But Mel walked Wally Joyner to force in a run, now 6-4. He did get Steve Finley to pop out next, but then Greg Myers laced a double into the RF corner to score 2 and tie the game before Rojas got out of it. All the runs were charged to Leiter and McMichael. Still, that didn't save Rojas from getting unmercifully booed as he walked back to the dugout.
Thankfully, the Mets offense was in a comeback mood on this night. After a Joyner 2-run homer made the score 3-2 in the 6th, the Mets came right back with 3 of their own in the bottom half of the inning, when the first 5 hitters each put the first pitch of their at-bat in play. And, like Mets2Moon mentioned, Lopez delivered an RBI sac fly in the bottom of the 7th after Carlos Baerga and Bernard Gilkey hit back-to-back 1-out singles to put the Mets right back in front. Bill Pulsipher (making his final appearance as a Met) and John Franco held San Diego at bay from there, with Franco getting a huge strikeout of Vaughn with a runner on 2nd base to get out of the 8th, and then inducing a game-ending double play in the 9th after the Padres put 2 on with a single and an error. That made an unlikely winner out of Rojas, which would be the second-to-last win of his career.
I watched the replay of this game from an old ESPN broadcast with Chris Berman in the booth, which meant there were plenty of name puns going on. Of note: Jim "Frito" Leyritz, Mike "Pepperoni" Piazza, Carlos "one if by land, two if by sea, three if" Baerga, and Bernard "Innocent until Proven" Gilkey. Leyritz made an ultra-rare start at 3B in this game, his only one in 1998 and first since being with the Yankees in 1996. And Gilkey's 7th-inning single was his last hit as a Met. He went hitless in 1 more game for the team before getting traded to Arizona.
Getting charged with 4 runs over 6.1 innings, this was the first time Leiter saw his season ERA rise to over 2.00 since April. His counterpart, Joey Hamilton, got lit up for 10 hits, tied for the most he'd allow in 1998. There were also a total of 10 doubles between the 2 teams, 3 by Tony Gwynn alone. Brian McRae led the Mets with 2 and also tallied 4 hits total, tied for the most he'd get in a Mets uniform. John Franco also got a rare at-bat in this game -- his first since 1996 -- and struck out swinging, looking like he had never held a bat in his life. Why John was even swinging at all is beyond me. Just stand there and watch next time, please.
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