LOVE the Mike Marshall reference. Loved seeing him sprint out there. Famous for not wearing sleeves even in chilly spring home games. I vaguely remember knowing he was prickly with reporters.
Make it make sense in today's context that you could pitch a reliever that much, especially in his age 30-31 years when he averaged close to 200 ip, and yet at age 36 he was still able to have 32 saves in 142 IP.
That was the year Expos touched 1st in September before slumping. (Jonah Keri somehow left that season out of his otherwise great book on the team. I contacted him and he didn't know! Kids these days.)
I had to look up MVP voting. Marshall was fifth behind Rose, Stargell, Bonds Sr. and Joe Morgan, who all had monster seasons, and one spot ahead of Brock, Perez, Seaver and our Ken Singleton (.904 OPS).
We were at Shea Stadium in September just a couple of games behind. Tim Foli hit a ball towards the bullpen in left. Should have been gone but the wind knocked it down for F7 and the Mets went on to win and the Expos faded. The day before had been Willie Mays Day at Shea and he received boats and cars and jewelry and more. Had to be a million dollars in parting gifts. I was 19 and very impressed.
I was 15 and what I remember from that late run was lying in bed with my little radio in my ear, over the moon when the Expos won the first game of a double-header vs the Cards, who I hated because my bro cheered for them. As I recall, an Expo hit a pop-up and the 57k fans were so loud the ball dropped in the infield and Felipe Alou scored the winning run. I think we moved into 1st at that moment.
It was late so I fell asleep happy, then woke up to learn we lost the second game and I think six or seven straight after that. I assume Mauch burned out the pitching staff like old-schoolers did back then.
Does this align with your memory Griff? I suppose if I didn't have other things to do I could look up the box scores!
Great piece. I don't really understand the approach to deadline. If you're not going to get elite prospects, and if you're already sacrificing a top prospect anyway, keep Gausman and Hoffman for the sake of fan interest. Trading Varsho fine, they but had adequate replacements.
Griff, you're on fire. The kale . . . We readers (even those of us clinging irrationally to hope itself) appreciate your hard questions of the team, of Schneids, point blank, of these games "in the sprint."
For a team second last in the majors in runs scored, they sure could use Hoffman's right-handed bat and he has been known as an igniter. Bullpen ERA is eighth. Think you overlooked Mason Fluharty.
LOVE the Mike Marshall reference. Loved seeing him sprint out there. Famous for not wearing sleeves even in chilly spring home games. I vaguely remember knowing he was prickly with reporters.
Make it make sense in today's context that you could pitch a reliever that much, especially in his age 30-31 years when he averaged close to 200 ip, and yet at age 36 he was still able to have 32 saves in 142 IP.
That was the year Expos touched 1st in September before slumping. (Jonah Keri somehow left that season out of his otherwise great book on the team. I contacted him and he didn't know! Kids these days.)
I had to look up MVP voting. Marshall was fifth behind Rose, Stargell, Bonds Sr. and Joe Morgan, who all had monster seasons, and one spot ahead of Brock, Perez, Seaver and our Ken Singleton (.904 OPS).
Not bad for a backwater team.
We were at Shea Stadium in September just a couple of games behind. Tim Foli hit a ball towards the bullpen in left. Should have been gone but the wind knocked it down for F7 and the Mets went on to win and the Expos faded. The day before had been Willie Mays Day at Shea and he received boats and cars and jewelry and more. Had to be a million dollars in parting gifts. I was 19 and very impressed.
I was 15 and what I remember from that late run was lying in bed with my little radio in my ear, over the moon when the Expos won the first game of a double-header vs the Cards, who I hated because my bro cheered for them. As I recall, an Expo hit a pop-up and the 57k fans were so loud the ball dropped in the infield and Felipe Alou scored the winning run. I think we moved into 1st at that moment.
It was late so I fell asleep happy, then woke up to learn we lost the second game and I think six or seven straight after that. I assume Mauch burned out the pitching staff like old-schoolers did back then.
Does this align with your memory Griff? I suppose if I didn't have other things to do I could look up the box scores!
Great piece. I don't really understand the approach to deadline. If you're not going to get elite prospects, and if you're already sacrificing a top prospect anyway, keep Gausman and Hoffman for the sake of fan interest. Trading Varsho fine, they but had adequate replacements.
Griff, you're on fire. The kale . . . We readers (even those of us clinging irrationally to hope itself) appreciate your hard questions of the team, of Schneids, point blank, of these games "in the sprint."
For a team second last in the majors in runs scored, they sure could use Hoffman's right-handed bat and he has been known as an igniter. Bullpen ERA is eighth. Think you overlooked Mason Fluharty.
Larry, I don’t count lefty specialist in the inner circle cuz as soon as a string of RHH is coming up he’s gone.
True, he is more successful against lefties, but he has faced nearly as many righties. That is life with the three-batter minimum.
Fluharty leads the league with 63 appearances.