Friday, December 9, 2011

Expos sweep Bucs...move over .500 for first time all season

9/23 - Stadie Olympique'
Expos 7, Pirates 0
Rick Rhoden (2-4) vs Steve Rogers (5-2)

Steve Rogers stepped up as the ace and pitched the Expos back to .500.  The bearded one went the distance scattering 6 hits and notching the complete game shutout.  Don't for a second think that this was an easy win for him.  Rogers had to rely on 4 double plays and 1 triple play, which occurred in the 2nd when Jason Thompson strolled to the plate: 
    runners on 1st and 2nd
    hitters advantage with 2-1 count
    Rogers offers
    Thompson swings..
    line drive to 1st base
    and Cromartie hauls it in
    to second...out, to first... got him!
    Triple Play!
Montreal's dormant offense came to life with 4 big runs in the 3rd off of Buc starter Rick Rhoden, to put the Expos up 5-0.  Larry Parrish's 2 out / 2 run double in the 7th provided ample insurance.

9/24
Expos 13, Pirates 2
Odell Jones (2-3) vs Bill Gullickson (5-4)

The Bucs jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and had "Gully" on the ropes both times, but could not break through with the knockout blow.  After Wallach walked to lead off the 5th Tony Pena mangled Chris Speier's bunt attempt and airmailed the ball into center putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.  This play kept Gully in the game, because at this point he was shaky at best on the mound and it looked like a pinch hitter was due.  Gully rewarded his manager with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2.  Montreal had scored a solo run the prior inning on a Gary Carter sac fly.  Tim Raines' double scored Speier to give the Expos a 3-2 lead.  Rodney Scott singled through a drawn in infield to make it 4-2 and Raines scored the 4th run of the inning when Cromartie hit into a DP.  Up 5-2 the Expos blew it open with 5 runs in the 6th off of the awful Ernie Camacho and the equally awful Rod Scurry.  Gullickson went 8 and gave up just 2 and Elias Sosa, he of the 11.85 ERA, pitched a scoreless 9th.  Larry Parrish (2-5) and Warren Cromartie (2-4, 2 R) each had 3 RBI days as the Expos boosted their record to 1 game over .500 for the first time all season.

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