The Expos took two of three from the hometown Astros in my re-creation of the 1994 Expos season using the classic simulation board game Strat-O-Matic baseball, the highlight of which was a 16 inning affair in the middle match of the three-game set.
In the opener, the Astros scored four runs in the 5th off of Expos starter Pedro Martinez to knock him out of the game en route to a 5-3 win.
The second match of the series was a wild one. The Astros took an early lead in the 1st, when Luis Gonzalez' sac fly brought in James Mouton. Darrin Fletcher tied things up the next inning with a solo Home Run.
Starters Ken Hill and Doug Drabek traded scoreless innings after that, until Will Cordero led off the sixth with a solo shot to break the tie. Andjuar Cedeno doubled in Ken Caminiti to knot things at 2 in the home half of the 7th.
And we were scoreless until the 11th, when a Jeff Gardner pinch hit RBI single plated Larry Walker. Expos reliever Tim Scott hit Jeff Bagwell to lead off the bottom half of the inning, and Bagwell came around to score on Milt Thompson's pinch hit RBI base hit.
The Expos appeared to have put the game away in their half of the 13th, when they plated a pair of runs, thanks to Cordero's second homer of the game, and an error by Astros pitcher Todd Jones allowed Moises Alou to score. With two out and a runner on in the home half of the inning, the Astros tied the game once again on a Home Run by Caminiti.
The game stayed deadlocked until the 16th, when a three-run shot by Alou put the Expos ahead to stay, 8-5. Gil Heredia pitched two scoreless innings to record the win, while Darryl Kile took the loss for the Astros.
A total of 44 players were used in the game, 15 of them pitchers. I admit to some over-managing on the Astros behalf, when I played the match up game in the 9th, and used 4 relievers, forcing me to use Kile when the bullpen was empty.
I did not have Pitcher's Hitting Cards before I started this project, so I downloaded some and printed them, simply referring to the sheet when I needed to. With all the double-switches I had to use in this game, it was very difficult to remember when the pitcher's spot in the order came up, so I will have to photocopy some onto some card stock so that I can keep them in the lineup.
The third game was a more tame affair, with the Expos winning . A huge blow came in the 7th inning, when Fletcher was hit by a pitch, and was knocked out of the lineup for 15 games.
I made a lineup tweak after the 2nd game. I have said previously that I preferred Cordero over Marquis Grissom for the leadoff spot, feeling that the former's higher OBP would play better there, and with the hitters coming up behind him, stolen bases would not be crucial, and the latter's speed might be better suited to the bottom of the lineup, where his speed might get him into scoring position ahead of the weaker hitters in that part of the lineup. I had Grissom hitting 7th, behind Fletcher, but for Game 3, I moved switched the pair.
As I played this series, I wondered why the Astros, with that lineup, might far in a 94 simulation of their own. Houston finished 66-49 in the shortened season, good enough for 2nd in the NL Central. It would appear that starting pitching was an issue, with only Drabek having a decent season. With a middle of the batting order featuring Craig Biggio, Bagwell, Gonzalez, and Caminiti, they could put a lot of runs on the board, and they rode the strength of that offence for much of the season, and were only a half game back of the Reds when the strike ended play on August 11th.
In real life, the Expos also took two of three of that opening series. After the Astros won the opener, solid starting performances by Hill and Kirk Rueter gave Montreal the series win. Next up is the Cubs back in the cozy confines of Olympic Stadium. The pitching matchups will be:
Game 1 - Rueter vs Steve Traschel
Game 2 - Martinez vs Anthony Young
Game 3 - Hill vs Jose Guzman
