Jump Up, Slap the Expos

Matt Bruce

A week ago, the Mets beat the Giants for the third straight game at Shea Stadium, threatening to complete their revenge for a four-game sweep inflicted at Pacific Bell Park in May. After averting the sweep on Monday, however, the Giants spelled sweet relief "Montreal."

Perhaps the Expos were shell-shocked, having dropped three in a row to Colorado, one by blowout and two by ninth-inning meltdown. The Montreal bullpen yielded three runs in the ninth on both Sunday and Monday, falling victim to a Neifi Perez triple on Sunday. Monday, Todd Helton's second homer in as many innings provided the margin of victory.

For Helton, this was the meat of a remarkable road trip. Batting .378 when the Rockies departed Coors Field last Thursday, Helton was 4-for-4 in a make-up game at St. Louis and 9-for-14 with six runs batted in at Le Stade Olympique. Not just a batting average flyweight, Helton rounded out the trip with a 6-for-13 performance at Shea Stadium where, remarkably, all six of his hits went for extra bases (five doubles and a home run).

Back home against the Marlins, Helton began Friday night's game at 3-for-4, actually raising his average above .400 before grounding out to end the eighth inning. For the season he stands at .399/.487/.724. Even away from Coors Field, his .360/.444/.626 is a stat line any team would crave. Hardcore Helton fans have made noises about an MVP award, bringing up a interesting debate over what constitutes value.

Unfortunately, for all of Helton's heroics, his team stands at 60-62, 10.5 games behind San Francisco. True, his 11 homers and .512/.588/1.000 mark over the month of May had paced his team to first place. Nonetheless, a four-game sweep at San Francisco in early July sharply altered the season paths of both clubs. In that series, Helton went 3-for-14 with no extra-base hits and no runs batted in.

The Giants, whose pitching had victimized Helton, would use an outburst of power to subdue the Expos on Tuesday night. Home runs by Marvin Benard, J.T. Snow and Rich Aurilia were enough to neutralize Jose Vidro's clout, Milton Bradley's blast, and a pair of longballs by Vlad Guerrero. The score stood deadlocked at 7-7 -- in the third inning.

Kirk Rueter ended his evening on a high note with a 1-2-3 fourth inning, then gave way to what had previously been one of the league's worst bullpens. Despite previous struggles, the San Francisco relievers combined to produce five innings of one-hit ball. J.T. Snow, Monday's hero, scratched out a late solo homer and a sacrifice fly to give the Giants the lead for good. The 7,165 fans in attendance suddenly sounded more like 716.

After 7,910 more Expo fans saw a Mark Gardner in cruise control Wednesday, Thursday's matinee affair marked the Expos' last chance to squeeze out a win on their homestand. Barry Bonds gave San Francisco an early lead with a three-run homer. Jose Vidro brought Montreal within a run with a three-run bomb in the eighth, and in the ninth inning, both teams got men to third base with one out but neither could score.

Felix Rodriguez, giving Robb Nen a breather, got Michael Barrett to ground out to second, with Jeff Kent looking the tying run back to third. Pinch-hitter Wilton Guerrero drew a walk but speedster Terry Jones stood no chance against Felix's 98-mile-an-hour heat. On the Expos' web cast, Dave Van Horne quickly bade listeners, "good afternoon, good night and good morning."

Two salient facts here point out just how pathetic the Montreal franchise has become. One is the fact that Terry Jones is one their roster, much less responsible for the game's deciding at bat. The other is the Van Horne webcast itself, a kludge to provide majorleaguebaseball.com with a "home team broadcast" despite the lack of any radio contract.

Although I learned some entertaining things from this production -- for example, certain Quebec-area car rental places are offering "free unlimited kilometres" -- Van Horne's lack of enthusiasm told the real story. It's okay to be calm and objective, but through two three-run homers and a pair of dramatic ninth-inning jams, Van Horne's voice never so much as wavered. While I'd love to know how he called the Colorado comebacks, I do know that his moment of greatest excitement Thursday afternoon was pointing out an increase in attendance to 9,198.

As the Giants were wrapping up a 4-3 trip, the Athletics finished their home stand by sweeping the Indians to reclaim the American League wild card lead. Over 32,000 fans saw a three-run comeback in the ninth inning when Terrence Long's two-run double capped a 7-6 victory and put the A's almost as far ahead of Cleveland as they were behind the suddenly vulnerable Mariners.

Bay Area baseball fans can be forgiven for feeling sensory overload this week: No sooner did the A's leave than did the Giants and Braves stage a possible NLCS preview with a match-up of aces. The most famous duel between Greg Maddux and Livan Hernandez may still be Florida's 2-1 victory in the 1997 NLCS, yet Livan's first major-league shutout proved no less exciting.

Having fallen apart in the ninth inning of previous shutout bids, baseball's most famously abused arm was finally able to complete the deal, this time with "only" 121 pitches. Chipper Jones gained his thousandth career hit in the ninth inning, yet Hernandez ended the game by fanning Andres Galarraga with his 10th strikeout of the evening. Greg Maddux again pitched well in a losing cause, yet a two-run homer by Aurilia was all the offense the Giants would need.

Perhaps demoralized by Friday's loss, Atlanta's pitching fell flat Saturday afternoon. After the 12-3 victory, the Giants are 32-13 since the end of June and 41-12 at Pacific Bell Park since dropping their first six home games of the season. The excitement of a real contender can match only the excitement of meeting a column deadline.

about the author

Matt Bruce wasn't born excitable. We're not sure, however, whether it's all the winning in the Bay area or the fact that his online employer was the only one to not lay anyone off. Offer to sell your ValueAmerica options at mb@strikethree.com.