As luck would have it, Piazza was the only member of the starting lineup (aside from the pitcher) who didn't record a run or an RBI. The Mets never looked back after a 5-run 4th inning, knocking around Brewers pitching for 8 extra-base hits, including 7 doubles -- one off tying the franchise record. They tallied 13 hits off Cal Eldred, the most he ever gave up in a start, and Carlos Baerga put the cherry on top by hitting a rare home run right-handed in the bottom of the 7th. All the offense helped Bobby Jones win his 3rd straight start and gave the Mets 10 wins in their last 11 home games.

On the topic of trades, the broadcast mentioned there were rumors flying around the Mets were also toying with the idea of dealing Baerga and John Olerud to Baltimore for Roberto Alomar and Rafael Palmeiro. As Mets fans, we inexcusably gag whenever hearing Alomar's name, but he was a much different playing in 1998 than when we got him in 2002. Ultimately, however, I'm glad it's a trade that never panned out, mostly because Alomar, Palmeiro and Piazza were all free agents at the end of the season, and there was no way the Mets were going to be able to bring them all back. It might have been fun to see what they all could have done together in 1998, but it would have been a very short-lived party.

Meanwhile, I stumbled across this article from 1998 when doing some additional research about this game: https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/sports/1998/05/19/Piazza-should-have-to-serve/50562780007/

It's obviously from the point of view of a Dodgers journalist who was desperate to point blame at somebody for the team's lack of success during the 1990s, and saw Piazza as an easy scapegoat since he was already off the team and had declined a contract offer because he thought he could get more money on the open market. The writer knew it was absolute rubbish, too, because the byline simply says "Staff Writer" -- no moron would want his name attributed to such a steaming pile of garbage. It pretty much states the case that "Mikey" is greedy and selfish and can't catch worth a damn and deserves to toil on a losing team for the remainder of his career because he wasn't willing to give L.A. a hometown discount and never brought the team a World Series win. Forget all his hitting accolades, forget the Dodgers could have moved him to 1B if his defense at catcher was so bad, forget his work ethic and positive attitude and will to win (all of which were praised just weeks earlier when teammates came to his defense after Brett Butler took some cowardly and unprovoked post-retirement potshots at Piazza). It's all big words from a keyboard warrior, lashing out like some jilted lover who thinks everyone else is to blame for the problems of their own making. And so it greatly pleases me to know that Piazza came to a franchise where the fans truly appreciated and lauded him, and that he helped the Mets become one of the baseball's best in 1999 and 2000, while the Dodgers floundered in mediocrity for the next half dozen years.