Expos take 2 of 3 from STL

9/23 – 9/25 - Stade Olympique, Montreal QC

GAME 1 – Cardinals 4, Expos 2

Tom Poholsky (5-1, 3.61) won this “battle of the aces” over Steve Rogers (5-3, 2.92).  As usual Rogers could not get run support from his offense.  The game was scoreless until the top of the 7th when Cardinal catcher Hal Smith led off with a two bagger, advanced to 2nd on a Bobby Del Greco bunt and scored on a wild pitch that Gary Carter could not block in the dirt.  The following inning the Cards posted a 3 spot to put the game out of reach.  The resurgent Stan Musial and Ken Boyer led off with singles.  Wally Moon walked on 4 pitches to load the bases.  Two batters later Hal Smith doubled off the wall in left center to score Stash and Boyer.  A wild pitch with 2 outs allowed Moon to score.  The Expo offense came to life in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs.  File that in the “too little, too late” column for futility.

GAME 2 – Expos 6, Cardinals 2

Bill Gullickson (3-4, 2.86) went the distance by striking out 5 and walking only 1.  St. Louis managed to score solo runs in both the 7th and 9th innings and by then the Expos had a commanding lead.  Montreal picked up right where they left off the previous day by scoring 2 runs in the home half of the 1st.  Tim “Eli” Wallach doubled home Bryan Little and Andre Dawson with 2 out.  Dawson hit a solo shot to lead off the 4th and Wallach did the same to lead off the 6th.  Cardinal starter Murry Dickson went 6 and gave up 4.  Jackie Collum gave up 2 runs in the 8th to give the ‘Spos a 5 run lead at the time.   St. Louis wasted 3 for 4 effort by Musial, who has been building up his average, but seems to be lacking in power.  Dawson’s homer was his 9th on the season.

GAME 3 – Expos 5, Cardinals 4

Gutty performances by Charlie Lea (4-2, 2.12) and Herm Wehmeier let to one wild and fantastic finish.  St. Louis jumped all over Lea in the top of the 1st to the tune of 3 runs.  Lea was on the ropes and was perilously close to hitting the shower early.  A Tim Wallach error put leadoff hitter Don “don’t call me Wade” Blasingame on 1st.  No harm was done when “Blaze” was caught stealing by a perfect Gary Carter throw to Doug Flynn.  With 2 outs Stan “the Man” Musial doubled off the right field fence.  Ken Boyer followed that up with a two bagger of his own to make it 1-0 with 2 out.  Wally Moon hit one of his fabled “moonshots” the opposite way to left for a roundtripper that made it 3-0 Cards.  Lea settled down to get Rip Repulski to fly out to shallow center.  That out kept Lea in the game as Dan Schatzeder was warming fast in the pen.  St. Louis’s 3-0 lead was not a long lasting one.  Montreal scored 2 in the bottom of the 2nd when Wallach led off with his 4th homer of the season and Lea helped his own cause with a two out RBI single to plate Bryan Little.  “Mr. Scoops”, Al Oliver hit his 5th homer of the season to tie the game in the 3rd at 3 apiece.  Both teams exchanged solo runs in the 4th and that’s how it stood until the 9th.  With the score knotted a 4 all Larry Jackson was called on to hold down the heart of the Expo order and force extra frames.  After getting Chris Speier to ground out to short Jackson booted a dribbler by Al Oliver that had more English on it than a Rolling Stones album.  Dawson followed with a clean single to left to put runners on 1st  and 2nd.  Wallach then added a single of his own that was probably deep enough to score Oliver, but instead the veteran wisely held up since there was only 1 out.  Warren Cromartie came up and delivered Montreal’s 3rd single in a row as “Scoops” walked home wit the winning run.  The Expos, who entered the series with a 2 game divisional lead improved their record to 23-14.  They will now sit back and see how the 2nd place Pirates fare vs the league leading Cincinnati Reds.