One game does not make a trade, but this one was as good as any to evaluate last month’s deal between the Cubs and the Mets. And judging from Saturday’s events, the Cubs got the best of their New York rivals on at least one of the six players in question.
Free-agent flop reliever Mel Rojas blew it again, giving up an eighth-inning pinch home run to Ryne Sandberg that started a five-run rally and sent the Cubs to a 7-5 victory over the Mets on Saturday at Wrigley Field. Scott Servais hit a three-run homer for the game-winner.
Cubs manager Jim Riggleman was not interested in looking at the game as an evaluation of the deal, saying, “That was the furthest thing from my mind.”
But it couldn’t have been far from the minds of the 38,849 fans as Sandberg stepped in against Rojas and then deposited a fat 1-0 fastball onto Waveland Avenue to bring the Cubs within one.
“I made a mistake and he was waiting for it,” Rojas said. “I wasn’t trying to do too much. I’ve got no feeling about coming over here and facing those guys. It’s still baseball.”
Doug Glanville kept the rally alive with a single off Rojas, and Mark Grace roped a double to right off John Franco to score Glanville and tie it at 4-4. Servais then blasted the three-run shot to left-center to clinch it.
Except for Rojas, the trade debate was a draw. Mets center-fielder Brian McRae drove in what was then the go-ahead run with a single in the top of the eighth. Earlier, the Cubs had touched former teammate Turk Wendell for a run in the seventh. On the Cubs’ side, center-fielder Lance Johnson homered and extended his hitting streak to 13 games and shortstop Manny Alexander was 2 for 3 with an error.
