Mont vs Brooklyn

The 1979 Montreal Expos square off against the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers, in what seems to be a match up between two of the NL power teams.

Game 1 :
The Expos put Ross Grimsley on the mound to face Carl Erskine. Both pitchers started strong, with Grimsley pitching a no-hitter thru 3 innings and Erskine giving up just 2 hits. In the 4th inning, both teams scored, with Montreal scoring on a Single by Jim Mason and the Dodgers scoring on a Double by Gil Hodges. The score held there at 1-1, until the 6th inning, where Montreal scored again on a Single by Tony Perez. But, the Dodgers scored 4 runs in a 6th inning that was capped by a 3-run blast from Andy Pafko. Grimsley lasted until the 8th inning - but surrendered another homer to Hodges - giving the Dodgers a 6-2 lead heading into the 9th inning. Erskine gave up a 2-run shot to Warren Cromartie in the 9th inning, but the Dodgers felt confident and left him in for the complete game - and a 6-4 win.

Game 2:
The Dodgers began right where they left off in Game 1, as they jumped all over Steve Rogers by scoring 2 runs in the 1st inning, 3 runs in the 3rd inning, and another run in both the 5th and 6th inning. This was accomplished by way of the long-ball and some timely hits, as Roy Campanella jacked 2 homers and Jackie Robinson jacked one, in those 5 innings. The Expos did put up a fight in the bottom of the 5th inning, as they scored 4 runs off Preacher Roe on a couple of jacks themselves from Ellis Valentine and Warren Cromartie. The score was 7-4 after 5 innings of play, but the Dodgers did not slow down. They scored 3 more runs off Rogers in the 7th inning, when Campanella hit his 3rd homer of the game, making the score 10-4 Dodgers. Even though the Expos managed another 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning, it was not enough to overcome the barrage. The Dodgers won 11-6, as Rogers gave up all 11 earned runs and dropped his record to 1-3 while improving Roe's record to 3-1. Roy Campanella got MVP honors by smacking 3 homers in the game.

Game 3:
Looking for the sweep, the Dodgers sent Ralph Branca to the mound to face David Palmer. Montreal managed to score first in the bottom half of the 1st inning on an error, but the Dodgers came back to get 3 runs in the top half of the 2nd inning with another homer by Roy Campanella - his 6th of the year - and one by Andy Pafko, as the Dodgers jumped to a 3-1 lead. Things cooled off for both teams - until the bottom half of the 6th inning, as the Expos scraped another run off Branca by way of a Gary Carter blast - closing the Dodger lead to 3-2. The Expos went on to tie the game in the bottom half of the 7th inning, when they scored again off Branca that started with a pinch-hit Double from Tony Solaita. It appeared that the Expos took back some momentum in this game, but the Dodgers quickly ended any hopes of a victory by shutting down the Expos in the 8th and 9th inning, while scoring another run of their own in the top half of the 8th inning by way of some solid hits - and another 3 runs in the 9th inning by way of a 3-run monster from Jackie Robinson. Branca pitched well for 8 innings to earn his 2nd victory on the season and drop his ERA to 2.90 - and the Dodgers accomplished their sweep of the Expos.
--submitted by Georges Bseraini--