Farewell to the ex-Expos
MONTREAL — The Expos era in Montreal ended with a 9-1 loss to Florida on Wednesday night, a game delayed for 10 minutes when players were pulled off the field after a fan threw a golf ball that landed near second base.
Hours after baseball announced that the 36-year-old franchise will be moved next season to Washington, D.C., a crowd of 31,395 showed up at Olympic Stadium for its final chance to say farewell.
It was the largest crowd of the year and about four times the season average. Fans were warned in the third inning that the game would be forfeited if anything else was thrown onto the field.
Three plastic bottles were tossed into left field in the sixth, one near Florida’s Miguel Cabrera. But the teams remained on the field and no announcement was made. The game was delayed a couple minutes as the bottles were retrieved by a ball boy.
With two outs in the ninth, a fan jumped onto the field near Florida’s on-deck circle and was quickly escorted off by two security guards.
After Terrmel Sledge popped up for the final out, Marlins coach Perry Hill took the ball from third baseman Mike Mordecai and tossed it across the field to Expos manager Frank Robinson.
Montreal coach Claude Raymond stood alone on the field before he was joined by all the Expos as they waved goodbye to fans.
The crowd began standing when the Marlins came to bat in the top of the ninth. Fans, some with tears in their eyes, waved Canadian flags and held up signs. Some were still lingering in the stands 15 minutes after the game ended.
Peter McStravick, an Ottawa native and lifelong Expos fan living in Boston, held a sign with pictures of commissioner Bud Selig, former team president Claude Brochu and Florida owner Jeffrey Loria, who sold the franchise to the other 29 teams to purchase the Marlins in 2002.
“Expos Hall of Shame,” read the sign, “Merci de Rien (Thanks for Nothing.)”
“It’s a funeral,” said McStravick, who made a five-hour drive to attend the game.
Former Expos pitcher Carl Pavano (18-8) set a Marlins record for wins, and Cabrera hit his 32nd homer.
Sun-woo Kim (4-6) lasted two-plus innings.
Montreal has three games remaining this season, in New York against the Mets. The Expos also played their first game at Shea Stadium in 1969.
Wednesday night’s game was the 2,786th for the last-place Expos in Montreal, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That includes 641 at Jarry Park, where the team started play in 1969, and 2,145 at Olympic Stadium, where the Expos moved in 1977.