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--

Better dead than Red...

GAME 1 (Crosley Field) CIN 13, MON 2:

The downtrodden Reds scored early and often. At first manager Keller was content to play small ball and scratch for runs, but then the floodgates opened and there were no worries. Montreal's so called ace, Steve Rogers, gave up 10 runs (6 earned) in 2 2/3 innings of work. Ross Grimsley did a nice job of allowing only 2 earned runs over the next 5+, but by then the outcome was totally locked. Joey Jay went 5 for the Redlegs to notch the win. Jay has 3 of the Reds' 9 victories. Frank Robinson hit two homers and knocked in 5. Jay himself hit a solo shot. Injury note: Johnny Klippstein left with shoulder tightness after 1 batter.

GAME 2 (Crosley Field) MON 6, CIN 5:

Up by a score of 6-1 the Expos went into cruise control and almost paid dearly. Dan Schatzeder

was cruising until the Reds attacked him in the 6th for 3 runs. He did earn the win to go 4-0, and threw one of those "quality starts" that drive managers crazy.

Montreal jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first Rodney Scott dragged a bunt and wound up on second as Red catcher Johnny "Doc" Edwards threw it away. Gary "Camera" Carter doubled him home and Andre Dawson singled home Carter. Both teams exchanged runs in the 4th. Tony Perez hit the first of his 2 homers on the day to lead the inning off. Cincy scratched out a run via small ball to negate Perez' homer. Montreal looked to break it open in the 6th as they scored 3 off of Red starter Bob Purkery (0-7). Dawson, who had 3 hits on the day led off with a single. Perez then hit a 2 run shot. Valentine and Speier both singled off Purkey and moved up a base as Schatzeder successfully bunted them over. Cromartie singled them both home and when Scott and Parrish walked to load the bases it looked like the final dagger was going to be inserted. The Kid, Gary Carter couldn't deliver the knock out blow as Purkey managed to fan him on 4 pitches to end the inning. Cincy struck back in the bottom of the inning by scoring 2 of their own. Wally Post tripled with 1 out and Vada Pinson doubled him in. Coleman walked and pinch hitter Foiles singled home Pinson. Stan Bahnsen was called on to put out the fire and save Schatzeder's bacon by getting both Zimmer and Purkey to pop out. Cincy would then manage to chip away with 1 in the 7th via Frank Robinson's 8th homer of the year. Montreal entered the 9th with a tenuous 2 run lead. Woodie Fryman, who relieved Bahnsen gave up a lead off single to Blasingame and was promptly removed for closer Elias Sosa. Sosa, who has been shaky at best this season, got Eddie Kasco to pop out to Perez at first. Robinson followed with a single to put runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Wally Post fanned for the second out and all looked good for the Expo righhander until Pinson single in a run and now the pressure was really on. Gordy Coleman crushed a 2-1 offering to deep center that Dawson barely tracked down to end the game as Montreal was happy to escape with 6-5 win.

GAME 3 (Olympic Stadium) MON 8, CIN 7:

This contest firmly illustrated how bad teams like the Red flat out find ways to lose and why managers go gray and/or get heart conditions. The Reds jumped out to a 3 run lead in the first as they chased Expo starter Scott Sanderson from the mound. Sanderson got 1 out, but gave up 5 runs and had 3 earned runs charged to his name. Rudy May came on board to limit the damage in the first, but couldn't not prevent the Reds from scoring 3 more runs over the next 5 2/3 innings. Morris "Moe" Drabowsky wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire with his pitching skills as he found a way to allow the Expost to stay close. Montreal scored 2 in the third to cut it to 3-2. Drabowsky was gone after 5 innings of 5 run ball and the knowledge that he was not able to capitalize on great run support. Still he was leading. Red manager BIll Keller put his faith on reliever John Tsitouris, who for the most part held the Expos big bats in check. After scoring a solo run in the 9th Cincy carried a 1 run lead into the bottom of the frame. Andrew Dawson led off with a bunt single only to be forced at second by Tony Perez. By this time Tsitouris gave way to ace reliever Jim Brosnan, who served up a walk off gopher ball to Ellis Valentine. Montreal stole games 2 and 3 from a down and defeated Red team that couldn't close the door. Sosa got the win, but his 1 run in 1 inning performance certainly didn't leave the hometown fans with any semblance of confidence that he can be trusted down the stretch. Frank Robinson hit a 3 run homer for his 4th of the series to up his yearly total to 9. Robinson (.328) has been the lone bright spot in this disappointing campaign for the Reds.

Motown races by Brew Crew !

Game 1 The Tigers jumped all over starter Moose Haas (0-3) for three runs in the first and two more in the second. Ron Kline (2-2) went 6 innings and got relief help from several including Terry Fox who earned his 2nd save. Cash hit his 5th homer Detroit 7 Milwaukee 4

Game 2 The Brewers opened the scoring wit 3 runs off Paul Foytack in the third. The Tigers clawed back with one run n the fourth and two in the sixth. The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth when Bill Castro (0-1) took the loss after Bob Galasso walked pinch hiter Dick McAuliffe wit the bases loaded. Phil Regan got the win

(1-0). Detroit 4 Milwaukee 3

Game 3 Jim Bunning (3-3) went the distance as the Tiger hitters battered a succession of Brewer pitchers. Charley Maxwell (1), Rocky Colavito (4) and Bill Bruton (3) all homered for the Tigers. Charley Moore (2) took Bunning deep. Larry Sorenson (5-2) took the loss. Detroit 13 Milwaukee.

--submitted by Tom "Crash" Davis--

More Than a Feeling...Boston takes 2 of 3 from Halos

GAME 1 (Fenway Park) '49-BOS 2, '05-LAA 0:
Joe Dobson carried a no hitter into the 6th inning when Chone Figgins singled to center with one out. Figgins would not be able to score that inning, nor would any Angel score during this contest. Dobson exited the game with a 1 hit shutout going with 1 out in the 9th. A string of 3 Red Sox relievers managed to quell the Angel uprising in the 9th to preserve the shutout and clinch the victory. Frank Quinn fanned Juan Rivera for the final out. Boston took a quick 1-0 lead when the "Splendid Splinter" Ted Williams hit a solo shot off of Ervin Santana to open the 2nd. Dobson protected that 1 run lead until the Bosox added an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th when a string of Angel relievers decided to walk the world. Dobson moved his record to 4-2, while Santana fell to 0-1.

GAME 2 (Fenway Park) '04-LAA 4, '49-BOS 3:
Boston needed to tap spot starter Walt Masterson and hope for the best as the rest of the staff was pretty much worn out. Paul Byrd gave the Angels one of those dreaded "quality starts" (6 innings / 3 runs). Masterson posted a 7/4 performance, which turned out to be less quality than Byrd's. Boston started the scoring in the first with back to back lead off singles from Johnny Pesky and Billy Goodman. Dom DiMaggio's fielder's choice plated Pesky, but broke up the chance for the big inning. Al Zarilla's solo shot off of Byrd in the 2nd put Boston up two zip. Masterson was a victim of his control as the Angels scored their first run in the 3rd inning. Orlando Cabrera walked to lead off the frame and then proceeded to steal second and eventually scored on Figgins' sac fly to right. Bobby Doerr's lead off homer in the 4th moved Boston back up by 2, but that wasn't going to last. The Angels chipped away with a run in the 5th and took the lead for good with 2 in the 6th...all with 2 outs. Vlad Guerrero walked with 2 outs in a situation where Masterson was obviously pitching around him. BIG MISTAKE...Garrett Anderson doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd and Dallas McPherson singled them both home. Just like that Masterson's lead was gone and the momentum had turned. The Angel bullpen easily held the lead until the 9th when K-Rod came on board and treated the fans to his high wire act without a net. Rodriguez walked the dangerous Williams and Stephens. Boston had 2 on and nobody out and looked to be in a great position to at least tie the game. That was until Boston manager, Marc Weiss, made a very controversial decision. With future HOF'er Bobby Doerr up Weiss decided to play small ball and bunt the runner up. Angel manager Douglas Zaner had the correct answer as he pulled in the corners and when Darin Erstad pegged Williams at third he began to look like a genius. Boston still had 2 more shots to plate the tying run, but K-Rod was not going to give them additional opportunities. Pinch hitter Lou Stringer lined to Erstad at first and Birdie Tebbetts fanned to end it.

GAME 3 (Angel Stadium) '49-BOS 13, LAA 6:
Don't let the final score deceive you. This game was one of those see-saw battles that make managers go gray until Boston broke it open in the 8th. Neither team seemed to be able to put the other away. The biggest shock had to be all the runs being scored with each team's ace on the hill. Bartolo Colon was chased from the hill after yielding 7 runs in 5 shoddy innings of work. His Boston counterpart, Mel Parnell, gutted it out for a complete game, but his 6 runs allowed were sub par at best. Parnell was the beneficiary of an offense that has finally hit it's stride. Boston hit 4 homers in this contest. Angel manager Zaner commented, "Boston had 7 homers in this series, while the Angels might have 7 in 27 games". The Red Sox offense, which started off slow has now shifted into full gear. For most of the season the recipe for defeating the Sawx was to walk or pitch around Williams and dare Vern Stephens and Bobby Doerr to beat you. Up until 3 weeks ago that worked fine. In this game alone Stephens made the Angels pay for that very strategy with two huge round trippers. Doerr did as well. Boston moved to 15-12 and is now in the heart of the AL East race.

Beautiful-Lee Done !

GAME 3 (Turner Field) '79-MON 8, '98-ATL 2:
In what looks to be the making of a Cy Young season Bill "the spaceman" Lee survived not having his best stuff to notch his 6th win of the season against zero defeats.  By giving up 2 runs in 7 innings of work Lee saw his ERA "balloon" to 0.94 !  Stan Bahnsen came on to toss 2 scoreless innings in relief as the outcome really wasn't much in doubt.  Brave starter Dennis "El Presidente" Martinez was tossing shutout ball and had a 1 run lead going into the 4th when he allowed 3 runs in successive innings before heading to the showers.  By that point the Expos had a nice 6-1 lead.  Cromartie had his second consecutive 3 hit game against the Braves, this time from the lead off spot.  Every Expo starter except for 8th place hitter Chris Speier scored a run.  Speier more than made up for it by knocking in 3 runs with 2 outs.  Montreal clawed its way back into the pennant race and is now 1 game behind the first place Pirates with a huge 4 games set looming large for both teams on the horizon.

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Warren-t !

GAME 2 (Olympic Stadium) - '79-MON 7, '98-ATL 2:
Warren Cromartie keyed the Expos offense explosion by going 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and an RBI.  In fact the Expos table setters were the key to this game.  Leadoff man Rodney Scott chipped in with 2 hits of his own and 2 runs scored to pace Expo starter David Palmer to his first victory (1-0) of the season.  Atlanta's Tommy Glavine must have thought it was game 162 in a pennant race as he was ineffective at best.  Glavine yielded 6 runs (5 earned) in 7 innings of work.  Chipper Jones' 2 run shot in the fourth cut Montreal's lead to 3-2, but that was the closest this contest would get.  Scott also had 2 stolen bases in the game to create havoc.

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What really Maddux to us ?

GAME 1 (Olympic Stadium) '98-ATL 2, '79-MON 0:

Simply put "the professor" Greg Maddux was brilliant. 135 pitches over 8 innings and only 2 hits yielded as the big boppers from North of the Border could never get on track. Scott Sanderson was the hard luck loser for the Expos as he went the distance and gave up only 1 earned run. John Rocker came on in the 9th to notch his 3rd save of the season. The game was scoreless until the top of the 4th when Andruw Jones doubled off the left center field wall. With two outs Expo shortstop Chris Speier booted a room service hop and compounded it by airmailing it into the front row to allow Jones to score. Atlanta added an insurance run in the 6th when, Maddux himself helped his own cause by singling Jones home with 2 outs. Warren Cromartie singled to open the 9th for the Expos, but Rocker struck out 2 of the next 3 hitters to put the game away.