Thursday, February 11, 2010

Expos & Padres play 20 innings in opener as Montreal sweeps series

8/12 - 8/13 Olympic Stadium - Expos 3, Padres 2 (20 inn)
Who says that there is no such thing as a double header ? Well opening day for the Expos and Padres turned into just that: a double header and then some. Brust Hurst and Steve Rogers both started for their respective clubs. They would both be showered shaved and home before the contest reached it's conclusion. Both teams scored solo runs in the 3rd. Montreal's was unearned when the usually sure handed Tony Gwynn dropped Tim Raines' warning track fly. Raines took full advantage by stealing third after he advanced to second on a hit and run. Al Oliver knocked him in with a clean single to center. Montreal took the lead in the 6th when "the kid" Gary Carter homered to right center. Jeff Reardon was brought on to close it out in the 9th, but all hopes of that happening evaporated when Gary Sheffield ripped a tape measure shot on Reardon's first offering. With the game knotted a 2 apiece we headed for extra innings. Both teams had numerous chances to score. The Padres had bases loaded in the 16th, but Jerald Clark popped to short. They had first and second in the 18th, but Darrin Jackson hit into a twin killing. The Expos had Carter lead off the 18th with a double and Tim "Eli" Wallach walk, but pinch hitter Warren Cromartie hit into a force and Doug Flynn lined one on a hop to Sheffield at 3rd, who went around the horn for a perfect 5-4-3 DP. As day passed into night and today passed into tomorrow the Expos stepped up to bat in the bottom of the 20th to face reliever Mike Maddux, who was beginning his 4th inning of work. Al Oliver grounded to second, but the ball went right through the wickets of Kurt Stillwell. Call that one a "Major League Error". "The Hawk", Andre Dawson, fanned on 4 pitches, but "Kid" Carter singled to put runners on 1st and second. Wallach flew out to right for the second out of the inning and it looked like we were going to head to the 21st inning. Instead everyone began heading to the exit when Maddux uncorked a wild pitch to allow the runners to move up 90 feet and into scoring position. Cromartie hit a hard grounder to Kurt Stillwell at second. Stillwell fielded it cleanly, but did his best Steve Sax/Chuck Knoublauch imitation by double clutching then air mailing it over McGriff's head at first to allow Oliver to score the winning run. Not exactly the classic way to end a game, but the Expos will take it. Dan Schatzeder notched the win with 4 innings of no run ball in relief. Lost in the mix was the fine relief performances by Luis Melendez of the Padres who threw 6 scoreless frame. Ray Burris of the Expos posted 7 shutout innings. The Expos had 3 runs on 19 hits and had numerous 2 out singles that meant nothing. Both teams really taxed their respective bullpens.

8/13 - Olympic Stadium - Expos 2, Padres 0
A lot of tired folks had to play this day game, which started less than 12 hours after yesterday's 20 inning extravaganza that ended on the same calendar day. The Expos didn't take 14 innings to score a run today. Wallach led off the 2nd with a single off of Padre starter Andy "Merchant of" Benes. Shortstop Bryan Little lashed a triple into the right field corner to easily score the slow footed Wallach. Doug Flynn layed down a beautiful bunt as the Expos executed a perfect squeeze play to make it 2-0. That would be all the scoring the Olympic Stadium fans would see on the day. Expo stater Bill Gullickson was masterful working into the 9th and carrying a shutout. After fanning the great Tony Gwynn, Gullickson yielded a double to Sheff and a single to "the crime dog", Fred McGriff. Sentimentality went out the window and Gullickson was lifted without getting a chance to record he complete game shutout. Instead Jeff Reardon was allowed to redeem himself, as he got the final 2 outs for his first save of the season.

8/14 - Jack Murphy Stadium - Expos 2, Padres 1 (10 inn)
Charlie Lea and Craig Lefferts were hooked up in what promised to be another pitcher's duel when Lefferts came up lame in the 3rd while fielding a bunt attempt by his opposing number. Gene Harris came aboard and not only kept the Expos at bay, he even single home the much maligned Kurt Stillwell in the 5th to make it 1-0 Friars. It would stay that way until the 8th when Harris began to tire. Al Oliver and Jim Wohlford started the inning off with single. A wild pitch allowed them both to move up 90 feet. Harris also lost track of the batter, Manny Trillo, who walked on 5 pitches to load the bases with nobody out. At this point the Expos had a good shot to break it open. Terry Francona grabbed a bat and came up to hit for Lea, who ended his day on the short side of a 1-0 score. Francona would lift a fly to deep center field, which allowed Oliver to trot home from third to tie the game at 1 all. Harris then fanned Raines for out number two. Doug Flynn popped to third to end Montreal's hopes of going home early. Reliever Larry Andersen was allowed to hit for himself in the bottom of the 8th and weakly grounded to Flynn at short. At this point things got real strange. Tony Fernandez turned on a 2-2 offering by Expo reliever Dan Schatzeder that wound up 2 rows into the left field bleachers to put San Diego back up by 1, or so it appeared that way. Before Fernandez could get halfway down the line umpire Harry Wendelstedt was waving his hands and calling him back to the plate. Apparently Fernandez took too much time adjusting himself in the box and catcher Gary Carter asked for time. Wendelstedt granted him time, but neither Schatzeder, nor Fernandez were in on this decision. Padre manager Joey Scigliano fired out of the dugout like a heat seeking missile. Things settle down 10 minutes later, but Scigliano was not able to win his argument. He did have some nasty parting words for Carter, who had one of those Cheshire cat grins on his face. When play resumed Fernandez again turned on Schatzeder's offering. This time he got the change up and he dribble a weak grounder to Wallach at third who threw him out by 3 steps. Neither team could muster up a run in the 9th and for the second time in 3 games we were headed to extra innings. Andersen was able to get Oliver to weakly fly to right for the first out in the top of the 10th, but he was not so lucky facing pinch hitter Warren Cromartie who launched one off the foul poll in right to put the Expos us 2-1. Jeff Reardon go up in the pen real fast to get ready to close it out in the bottom of the 10th. Reardon fanned Clark and got Stillwell to line out to Trillo at second. Craig Shipley fought off 3 consecutive strike 3 pitches and then singled to left. Fernandez was back again. This time he represented the winning run. He turned on Reardon's first pitch, but hooked it foul by 30 feet. Two offering later he grounded to Flynn at short who flipped it to Trillo at second to end the game. With the win Montreal swept a series that could have easily gone the other way. In 39 innings played only 10 runs combined were scored by both teams.

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