fanning six. Casey Janssen recorded the games final four outs to ear

Hard to believe it has been 10 years since the Montreal Expos were getting set to begin their final spring training at Space Coast Stadium at Viera, Florida before relocating in Washington as the Nationals in 2005. There are actually eight - possibly nine - players still active who played on that final Montreal team in 2004. Five of those had ties to the Blue Jays, including lefty reliever Scott Downs, righty reliever Jon Rauch, Tomo Ohka whos trying a comeback this year with the Blue Jays as a knuckleballer, shortstop Alex Gonzalez (the first one) who was a contemporary of Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green and current Jays utility infielder Maicer Izturis. The others include reliever Luis Ayala, infielder Jamey Carroll and outfielder Endy Chavez, and Canadian-born pitcher Shawn Hill who pitched last season and may still be active. The Expos knew they were in trouble going into that final season. Major League Baseball was running the team, and rumours were running rampant they were either going to be relocated or contracted, folded if you will. The Expos played 22 of their games in Puerto Rico at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, either to try and make more money for MLB, or expose the game on a more international level, or kill off the Expos even faster. Take your pick. In any event their attendance in 2004 was the worst in the Majors at 748,550. The Expos dropped their final five home games at Stad Olympique and went 2-7 on their final homestand ever. The Expos final home game ever was on September 29 against the Florida Marlins. Before the game they were presented with a banner by MLB, that proclaimed them as the best team in baseball in 1994. That of course was the year of the players strike that stretched into early 2005. The Expos had the best record in the Majors when play was halted in August of 1994 and most pundits felt they would have won the World Series that year. That banner was raised in centre field during that final game in Montreal. But mere hours later, word leaked out that the Expos would be relocating to Washington for the next season as the Nationals. To complete that washout of a day, Florida won the final game played in Montreal, 9-1. Korean-born pitcher Sun-Woo Kim, who finished with an appropriate career record of 13-13 took the loss giving up five runs on five hits in just two innings. Veteran catcher Todd Zeile hit the final home run at Olympic Stadium, a three-run shot off Claudio Vargas in the 6th inning. But it wasnt quite over from the Expos as they had to go to Shea Stadium in New York to play out the season in the very park where they played their first-ever game in 1969. After dropping the first game, Montreal won its final game under the Expos banner on Saturday, October 2. It had plenty of drama too. Brad Wilkerson, who spent some time with the Blue Jays in 2008, slammed a three-run tie-breaking homer in the top of the 9th off Braden Looper to propel Montreal to a 6-3 victory. On the Sunday, they didnt fare as well. The Mets crushed them 8-1. Jamey Carroll scored the final run in Expos history and Endy Chavez made the final out. Five players who had ties to the Blue Jays were involved in that game: Jose Reyes, Wilkerson, Tony Bautista, Jon Rauch and Maicer Izturis. Not only that, Randy St. Claire, Montreals pitching coach on that day, is now the Blue Jays Triple-A pitching coach at Buffalo. Also of note, the winning pitcher that day for the Mets was Tom Glavine, winding down his Hall of Fame career, who climbed to 11-14 with the victory. Montreal finished that final season at 67-95. A couple of more notes on that final Expos season. They were involved in one of the biggest trades of the year at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. It was a nine-player, four-team swap that involved Montreal, Boston, the Cubs and Minnesota. The Expos sent shortstop Orlando Cabrera to Boston. The Red Sox sent one of their all-time greats, Nomar Garciaparra, to the Cubs as part of the package and Alex Gonzalez was one of the three players that went from the Cubs to Montreal. Strangely enough, Gonzalez, the ex-Jay, was the final Expos player ever dealt. He was sent to San Diego as part of a conditional deal on September 16. The Expos left us with some great memories, and there are many who believe a team will return to Montreal, including a group fronted by former Expos left fielder Warren Cromartie. For that to happen though, a new downtown stadium has to be built, and that is nowhere near happening yet. For now Montreal fans will have to be content with two pre-season games at the Olympic Stadium in late March between the Blue Jays and the New York Mets. Midsummer Plans This years All-Star game is slated for Target Field in Minnesota. In 2015, the Midsummer Classic will be in Cincinnati. Commissioner Bud Selig says Washington is a front-runner for 2017. However 2016 is open and if the rotation is followed would go to an American League team. That would be the perfect fit for the Blue Jays, on the 25th anniversary of the first All-Star Classic they hosted in 1991. Heres hoping. Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic .Derrick Rose scored 23 points, and the Bulls pulled away from the Nets for a 105-80 victory on Wednesday night. Chicago held Brooklyn to 29 points on 26. Buy NHL Jerseys 2020 . -- San Francisco 49ers offensive co-ordinator Greg Roman is a finalist to replace Joe Paterno at Penn State, his agent said Monday. https://www.nhljerseys2020.com/ . 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Most notably, Arizonas Bill Bidwill, who saw his Cardinals go 10-6 and not get in, while Green Bay (8-7-1) qualified by winning the NFC North.NEW YORK - Marcus Stroman and the Toronto Blue Jays will have their work cut out for them tonight when they face Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka to open a three-game series in New York. Tanaka has certainly lived up to the hype this season, going 10-1 with an American League-best 2.02 ERA. The Japanese right-hander went the distance to win his fourth straight start on Wednesday in Seattle, as he held the Mariners to a pair of runs and six hits. He also struck out 11. With 103 strikeouts and 14 walks, no pitcher ever has struck out more while walking fewer through their first 13 games. Also, hes thrown a quality start in all 13 of his outings. "If he keeps this up, hes going to have one of the greatest first years in baseball of any pitcher whos ever played this game," said Mark Teixeira. Tanaka debuted with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays back on April 4. He gave up three runs over the first two innings, but settled down and pitched five scoreless innings after that. Of course, the Jays will only be the second team to have faced him twice. Tanakas lone loss came against the Chicago Cubs, the first team that had a second look at him. "Theyre a very good lineup, whether you see them the first time, the fifth time," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of the Blue Jays. "Theyre extremely dangerous so, yeah, Im looking forward to it. My thought is hes going to do fine. I wouldnt think that he wouldnt. But obviously youre curious." Tanaka will be trying to help the Yanks bounce back after losing two of three in Oakland that culminated with a 10-5 setback on Sunday. Carlos Beltran and Brett Gardner homered, while Derek Jeter and Teixeira knocked in a run each for the Yankees, who ended a nine-game road trip 5-4. "Today was one of those games," Jeter said. "But I think for the most part weve beeen playing good as of late.ddddddddddddquot; Toronto heads into the Bronx holding a 4 1/2-game lead on both the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles atop the American League East standings, despite losses in seven of its last 10 games. The Blue Jays, though, have won two of three and split a four-game series with the Orioles over the weekend. On Sunday, Dioner Navarro finished with three hits and drove in a pair of runs, leading Toronto to a 5-2 win. Edwin Encarnacion doubled twice among his three hits and scored twice for the Jays, who received an RBI each from Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista and Steve Tolleson in the victory. J.A. Happ (6-3) worked six-plus innings, allowing seven hits and one run while fanning six. Casey Janssen recorded the games final four outs to earn his 12th save. "Today was a big game for us," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "We came to life a little bit and Happ was outstanding. He really was. He gave us what we needed, just like he was the other night. He gave us a chance to win." Getting the call for the Blue Jays on Tuesday will be right-handed rookie Marcus Stroman, who suffered his first loss of the season his last time out. After winning his previous two starts Stroman absorbed the loss to Minnesota on Wednesday, allowing three runs and nine hits over six innings to fall to 3-1 on the year to go along with a 5.18 ERA. The Medford, New York native will be making his first-ever appearance against the Yankees. "Any time you have an opportunity to pitch in front of a bunch of family and friends its exciting," Stroman said. "I have a bunch of people texting me, a lot of people from high school, college reaching out to me telling me theyll be at the game." New York won two out of three games in their lone meeting with Toronto this season. ' ' '