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Were you at the 'Mel Rojas' game?

Frayed Knot Jan 17 2011 08:02 PM

You know what the Mel Rojas game refers to of course, the one where Bobby V brings him in in the 7th with a 4-3 lead and Mel immediately serves up a 3R HR to Paul O'Neal on the first pitch he throws. The press killed BV afterward for allowing the great Paulie O'Neal to face a RHP and a few games later when LHP Bill Pulsipher got smacked around in a similar situation the incident became even more famous because that's when Bobby supposedly came out of the dugout to glare at the press box with a 'you dopes ain't as smart as ya think ya are' look. One could say that Rojas never recovered from that outing although it's not like he was pitching well up to that point so the cause and effect is a bit hazy. Anyway, my brother brings me a jigsaw puzzle the other day knowing that I used to do them back in the day. It's a 600+ piece 3-ft x 1-ft puzzle of a panoramic shot of Shea during a game taken from behind the Field Level straight up from 1st base: packed house, scoreboards lit, lights on, hint of pink in the clouds from the setting sun. It wasn't until after I finished the thing that I bothered to look up the specifics of the game via the game's date which was listed on the box and not only recognized it as the infamous Mel Rojas game but realized that I'm actually in the puzzle I just finished. Can't pick out myself of course although someone who's in a certain section of the 1st base field boxes might be able to. I have a vague recollection of sitting in the LF Mezz that night meaning that I'm some tiny dot but I'm there (unless I'm in the can at that point). So if YOU were at the Mel Frickin Rojas game and were sitting anywhere except behind 1B in the Loge, Mezz or Upper deck, then you too are somewhere in this jigsaw puzzle. Specifically it's the top of the 4th, Mets still leading 1-0. O'Neal has just singled off Leiter and Tim Raines stands at the plate (you can see his face on Diamondvision). The tiny men in the field are Olerud at 1st, Baerga at 2nd, Ordonez at SS, and Edgardo st 3B, with an OF of Bernard Gilkey, Brian McRae, and Butch Huskey. Piazza crouches behind Raines.

Ceetar Jan 17 2011 08:06 PM Re: Were you at the 'Mel Rojas' game?

interesting. I got my parents a puzzle from Cooperstown of Shea Stadium. It's a much broader scope picture, and it's Opening Day 2005, but I'm in that one somewhere.

Edgy DC Jan 17 2011 09:05 PM Re: Were you at the 'Mel Rojas' game?

I appear in a jigsaw puzzle too! It's called My Life. Pieces are missing.

metsguyinmichigan Jan 17 2011 09:20 PM Re: Were you at the 'Mel Rojas' game?

I have my glorious Mel Rojas game-used -- well, practice-used -- road batting practice jersey. Signed and everything.

G-Fafif Jan 17 2011 11:10 PM Re: Were you at the 'Mel Rojas' game?

That's me, Mezzanine Section 17, slinking out not long after O'Neill's blast. Oh, what a night...

Frayed Knot Jan 18 2011 07:14 AM Re: Were you at the 'Mel Rojas' game?

I had forgotten - until reading Greg's piece - that the reason Rojas came into the game at that point was that Leiter had tweaked his knee on the previous bunt play, a play which touched off a huge argument [in a different long-ago forum] about whether inter-league play was responsible for Al's injury, One party (who shall remain nameless) insisted the injury and subsequent DL stint was the direct result of IL (which should therefore be immediately abolished) somehow rationalizing that Al would have been safely cocoon-ed in bubble-wrap had IL not been instituted the previous season and not pitching instead against some random NL opponent where the same thing could have occurred. Man that place started some incredibly dumb discussions.

metsmarathon Jan 18 2011 07:33 AM Re: Were you at the 'Mel Rojas' game?

avi was there.