9/26-9/27 - Joe Robbie Stadium
GAME 1 - Expos 12, Marlins 1
Florida came into this series trying to hold it all together and end the season on a high note. After firing their manager (Frank A) with 11 games left the Marlins looked to be fighting just to tread water. Montreal on the other had underachieved all season mainly because their ace Dustin Hernamson was horrible. Javy Vazquez (2-2, 3.92), with no pressure at all on him, showed signs of brilliance today that makes one believe that he as a great future as a top of the rotation pitcher. Javy threw up goose eggs for 8 innings before tiring in the 9th and giving up a meaningless homer to Orestes Destrade. That homer broke the shutout and ended Javy's day. Montreal staked Vazquez to a 4 run lead before he even took the hill. It was 10-0 before the 5th inning ended. Mark Grudzielanek had himself a nice 3 RBI day by going 4 for 6. Everyone in the Expo lineup, which at times this year had trouble producing runs, got a hit.
GAME 2 - Expos 6, Marlins 2
The "underachiever", Dustin Hermanson (1-4, 4.47) once
again was pitted against his opponent's ace (Charlie Hough). Florida scored 2 quick runs in the bottom of the first and the fans back home in Quebec watching on TV were muttering "Pas encore", which in French means: Not Again. You couldn't blame the fans since time and time again Hermanson would give up early runs and put his team behind the proverbial "Huit balle" (8-ball). For some unknown reason today would be different. Maybe that had to do with the fact that the Expos were facing the woeful Marlins or perhaps it had to do with the fact that they too were eliminated from contention, one will never know. What we do know is that a 4 run third inning gave Hermanson a lead for the first time in weeks. Orlando Cabrera led off the inning with a triple to dead center and scored immediately on a single by Wilton Guerrero. Brad Fulmer singled to put runners on the corners and Vlad just missed a 3 run homer, but did connect on a run scoring double. An error by a disinterested Gary Sheffield at 
third base prolonged the inning and allowed Fulmer to score. A sac fly by catcher Chris Widger plated Vlad easily to make it 4-2. Sheffield would make another huge error on a ball that he basically wanted no part of, which once again prolonged an inning (the 7th). That gave Ryan McGuire a chance and the light hitting lefty outfielder bled a single through the 1st/2nd base hole to score 2. Mike Maddux would finish out the 9th for Hermanson, who notched his first win of this disappointing season. Destrade's 2 run homer in the first accounted for all of Florida's runs and was his second in as many days.
9/28-9/29 - Olyimpic Stadium
GAME 3 - Expos 4, Marlins 2
For the second game in a row the 'Spos started one of their
enigmatic starters, Carl Pavano (2-5, 4.91). To say that Carl has come up small in big situations all year is like saying Pelosi likes to spend our money. Once again the Expos get a rock solid performance from one of their enigmatic starters in a meaningless contest. Pavano would go 6 shutout innings before giving way to the pen. The game was scoreless until the Expos scored 2 runs in both the 5th and 6th off of Marlins starter Armstrong (4-4, 3.08). RBI singles by Jose Vidro and that Grudzielanek guy accounted for both runs in the 5th. In the 6th Chris Widger doubled home Shane Andrews on a perfectly executed hit and run play with 2 outs. Vidro followed that with an RBI single. Florida cut Montreal's lead in half in the 8th with 2 runs thanks to errors and a wild pitch. Urgueth Urbina would make things interesting by allowing 2 runners in the 9th before getting Benito Santiago to line out and end it for his 12th save.
GAME 4 - Expos 4, Marlins 3
They call these "get away" days or "break up" days. Either set of adjectives are used to describe the final game of the season for two teams who are in a rush to clean out their respective locker rooms and hurry off to the airport to scatter to the four corners of the earth. Fans know this, which is why you'll see less folks in the crowd for this type of game than you would for a public hearing about zoning laws. Unless the home team has some sort of cool bobble head give away there is a good chance the crowd would be sparse. In this case the crowd would more aptly be described as a small minion. Sadly this "minion" is what the Expos routinely play in front of. At one time this was not the case, but then came the 1994 strike/lockout when the season abruptly ended with the Expos leading baseball. Fast forward to the following year when the economic climate caused by the strike and escalating salaries forced the Expos to sell off their young talent and gut their team. The fans felt betrayed and never returned. Future stars like Vlad Guerrero and Rondell White would be doomed to toil in anonymity in front of these sparse crowds until the day they became lucky enough to leave via free agency or get traded to a contender for a treasure trove of unproven, but young talent that worked cheap. This is the environment that today's game was played in. Fans had 2 things to really sink their teeth into. Could Carlos Perez lower his ERA (he did) and win his 8th game (he did not) and move into the Cy Young picture ? Could Urbina get a chance to save his 13th game (no...thanks to Maddux blowing an 8th inning lead) ? Florida took a 2-0 lead in the 3rd, but solo runs by the Expos in the 4th and 5th tied it up. Montreal took the head in the bottom of the 7th and all looked good until Mike Maddux blew it in the 8th by allowing the Marlins to tie it. This caused 2 things to happen. The first was ending Perez' chance to win his 8th. Perez would go 7 1/3 innings allowing just 2 runs. It would also prevent Urbina from entering the game in the
9th with a save opportunity. The bottom of the 9th would see Shane Andrews lead off with his 3rd double of the day and promptly score on Bob Henley's walk off RBI single. The Expos would finish off a sweep of the Marlins in prime fashion and finish the season at .500 all without any fans really knowing and or caring.
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