GAME 1: Montreal 3, California 0
The Expos dropped a 3 spot on the Angels in the bottom of the opening frame and made it stick. The bottom of the first started innocently as Angel starter Geoff Zahn got the first 2 hitters (Grissom & Frazier) to ground out weekly. Zahn got a little too "cute" with Moises Alou and wound up walking him. The speculation here is that the lefty Zahn felt more comfortable facing lefty Larry Walker. Walker is no ordinary left handed hitter. During the season he hit over .300 against southpaws, and his great batter's eye helped him work out a walk as well. Up stepped shortstop Wil Cordero who hit a 2-1 offering deep into the left center field bleachers to make the score 3-0. Little did anyone know that 3-0 would be the final score as Expo starter Ken Hill allowed only 2 hit in 8 innings of work before giving way to John Wetteland, who notched the save.GAME 2: California 3, Montreal 2
This game looked to be a clone of the opener with the Expos striking first blood in the 3rd with Wil Cordero again providing the firepower. With 2 outs, Angels starter Bob Forsch gave Larry Walker an intentional pass only to see Cordero single home 2 (White and Lansing). Expo starter Butch Henry was cruising along as the Angels couldn't find a way to cross the plate, but by the 8th he was out of gas and Mel Rojas was tapped to close it out. Rojas was terrible. In the 8th he gave up a 2 run shot to Bobby Grich and in the 9th he allowed Brian Downing to single home Fred Lynn for the winner. Steirer, who cam on in relief got the win and Sanchez notched the save.GAME 3: Montreal 6, California 3
After 2 consecutive "quality" starts Pedro Martinez returned to the hill looking to get his team back on track. Bobby Witt took the hill for the Halos in front of their home crowd in Orange County. Pedro was on the ropes early on and with 2 out in the 5th he was gone after throwing 127 pitches. By that point Pedro had a 1 run lead and all looked good as Gil Herredia took the hill. Brian Downing led off the 8th against Herredia and hit a solo shot to left to tie the game. After Reggie singled it looked like the Angels were going to rally and take the game. Thankfully the Expos have a deep bullpen and both Gabe White and Tim Scott prevented further trouble from "a brewing". the top of the 9th saw Wil Cordero again do damage with the lumber as he led off with a stand up opposite field double. Reliever Dave Goltz pitched around lefty Cliff Floyd, which put runners at first and second with no one out. Lou Frazier came to the plate and fought off a wicked 3-2 slider to single to left to load the bases. Sean Berry hit a sharp grounder to Tim Foli at short, which almost made it through the drawn in infield. Foli pivoted and threw Cordero out at the plate. with 2 out up stepped catcher Darrin Fletcher who didn't waste any time before slicing Goltz' 1st pitch down the left field line to clear the bases and put the Expos up by 3. Mel Rojas immediately sat down in the pen and John Wetteland began warming up. The bottom of the 9th saw only a weak Rob Wilfong hit by the Halos as Montreal took a 2 games to 1 series lead.
GAME 4: Montreal 2, California 1
With the Expos leading the series 2 games to 1 this game became a must win for the Angels.
Both teams seemed tight at the onset of the contest and the 7 straight scoreless innings tossed by Jeff Fassero and Bruce Kison did nothing to remove that feeling. By the 8th both starters were gone. Kison allowed only 3 hits in 6 innings worth of work, while Fassero scattered 7 harmless hits before he gave way to Mel Rojas in the 8th. Kison's replacement, Doug Corbett wound up being the loser in this contest as he surrendered the a run in the 8th. Don Aase was brought in to shut the door but he allowed Montreal to post an additional run to make it 2-0. Lou Frazier led off the top of the 8th with a "leg" double to right. Frazier is known for his wheels, and he never stopped motoring after he hit the ball and wound up on second in a scenario that other players would have had a long single. Corbett struck out Darrin Fletcher and got Grissom to weakly fly to Lynn in center. With 2 out Mike Lansing laced a double of his own to score Frazier. Aase came on to surrender a line single to Moises Alou and just like that the Angels were down 2-0. The bottom of the 8th saw Fassero start the inning and get Reggie to round out to 1st. Fassero was now operating on fumes, so a call to the the pen was imminent. After FOX came back from commercial Mel Rojas was standing on the mound. Fresh off his game 2 debacle Rojas was more than ready to redeem himself. Unfortunately for Mel he yielded singles to the first 2 batters he faced: Don Baylor and Ron Jackson (4 for 4). Montreal manager Marc Weiss was not about to relive this deja vu' all over again and immediately sent Rojas to the showers and called on lefty specialist Gabe White to face Fred Lynn. White, as he has done throughout the post season came through against a tough lefty hitter and induced Lynn to weakly line out to Cordero at short. With Tim FOli on deck the call to the bullpen was to bring in closer John Wetteland in hopes of getting 4 outs. Angel manager Douglas Zaner was not about to be outmaneuvered in this virtual chess game. Zaner immediately tapped future HOF'er Rod Carew to pinch hit and the Panamania came through in the clutch with a sharp single to right to score Baylor. Larry Walker bobbled the ball and instead of 1st and 3rd with 2 outs the Halos had 2nd and 3rd. A single could now score 2 and put the Angels ahead. Veteran catcher Bob Boone moved into the batters box and must have had the world on his shoulders. A single could tie the series, but an out would more than likely leave his team down 3 games to 1. Wetteland fell behind 2-0 and battled back to a 2-2 count. Boone got a nice pitch to drive and he hit it to the track in left field, but the speedy Frazier was camped out under it to end the rally. Wetteland came out for the 9th and basically threw smoke. Juan Beniquez, who replaced the injured Downing in the 4th flew out to Grissom in center. The next two batters, Grich and Decinces both struck out swinging as Wetteland just overpowered them. Montreal now had a 3 games to 1 lead with the chance to close it out in game 5.
Both teams seemed tight at the onset of the contest and the 7 straight scoreless innings tossed by Jeff Fassero and Bruce Kison did nothing to remove that feeling. By the 8th both starters were gone. Kison allowed only 3 hits in 6 innings worth of work, while Fassero scattered 7 harmless hits before he gave way to Mel Rojas in the 8th. Kison's replacement, Doug Corbett wound up being the loser in this contest as he surrendered the a run in the 8th. Don Aase was brought in to shut the door but he allowed Montreal to post an additional run to make it 2-0. Lou Frazier led off the top of the 8th with a "leg" double to right. Frazier is known for his wheels, and he never stopped motoring after he hit the ball and wound up on second in a scenario that other players would have had a long single. Corbett struck out Darrin Fletcher and got Grissom to weakly fly to Lynn in center. With 2 out Mike Lansing laced a double of his own to score Frazier. Aase came on to surrender a line single to Moises Alou and just like that the Angels were down 2-0. The bottom of the 8th saw Fassero start the inning and get Reggie to round out to 1st. Fassero was now operating on fumes, so a call to the the pen was imminent. After FOX came back from commercial Mel Rojas was standing on the mound. Fresh off his game 2 debacle Rojas was more than ready to redeem himself. Unfortunately for Mel he yielded singles to the first 2 batters he faced: Don Baylor and Ron Jackson (4 for 4). Montreal manager Marc Weiss was not about to relive this deja vu' all over again and immediately sent Rojas to the showers and called on lefty specialist Gabe White to face Fred Lynn. White, as he has done throughout the post season came through against a tough lefty hitter and induced Lynn to weakly line out to Cordero at short. With Tim FOli on deck the call to the bullpen was to bring in closer John Wetteland in hopes of getting 4 outs. Angel manager Douglas Zaner was not about to be outmaneuvered in this virtual chess game. Zaner immediately tapped future HOF'er Rod Carew to pinch hit and the Panamania came through in the clutch with a sharp single to right to score Baylor. Larry Walker bobbled the ball and instead of 1st and 3rd with 2 outs the Halos had 2nd and 3rd. A single could now score 2 and put the Angels ahead. Veteran catcher Bob Boone moved into the batters box and must have had the world on his shoulders. A single could tie the series, but an out would more than likely leave his team down 3 games to 1. Wetteland fell behind 2-0 and battled back to a 2-2 count. Boone got a nice pitch to drive and he hit it to the track in left field, but the speedy Frazier was camped out under it to end the rally. Wetteland came out for the 9th and basically threw smoke. Juan Beniquez, who replaced the injured Downing in the 4th flew out to Grissom in center. The next two batters, Grich and Decinces both struck out swinging as Wetteland just overpowered them. Montreal now had a 3 games to 1 lead with the chance to close it out in game 5. GAME 5: Montreal 9, California 4
A rematch of game 1 starters saw Ken Hill again facing Geoff Zahn, who had his team's season resting squarely on his left shoulder. The burden of all that pressure was too much for Zahn who gave up 5 runs in only 2 innings worth of work. Angel manager Douglas Zaner hated to pull his ace, but he did not have the luxury to be able to wait and hope he "righted" the ship Montreal scored another run in the third, 2 more in the 4th and 1 more in the 6th...all off of reliever Steve Renko, before the Angels finally cracked the scoreboard. Montreal hurler Ken Hill was cruising along, but with a 9 run lead began to lose concentration. A couple of hits and a key error later and Hill was done for the day, but on the long side of the ledger with Montreal up 9-3. The Angels managed to get a lone run in the bottom of the 9th to bring the score a little closer to respectability. John Wetteland settled down after yielding the run and closed out the 9th to hand the Expos their first World Championship of any kind. This season turned out to be the crowning glory for a franchise that finished the 1994 season as "uncrowned champs". As we all know the Expos were poised to dominate the NL, when the player's strike ended their season and in all essence ended their franchise. Expo fans never forgave the players for striking and ownership for trading away their stars. Within 3 years the dominant Expo lineup was scattered to the 4 corners of the baseball world. Pedro was winning Cy Young awards yearly in Boston, while Larry Walker, Moises Alou and Marquis Grissom all went on to have MVP caliber seasons in bigger markets. Again it was nice to see this team get it's due. On a personal note I feel I have a tie to the Expo organization. I might be one of the few people who can say that they attended the Expos first game ever in 1969 @ Shea Stadium in Flushing, NY. It was also my first ever Met game. On the flip side I attended the last Expo game in 2004, also at Shea. Having the chance to be part of this KOD championship for the Expos is almost like coming full circle.
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