Birthplace of our hometown team

Among other things - second largest French-speaking city on the planet, home of poutine - Montreal is the home of the Nationals, the city where our hometown team was born in 1969.

We visited the town where Jackie Robinson played his first season of professaional (white) baseball and Andre Dawson and Gary Carter became Hall of Famers last week, and surprisingly and happily found some lingering Expos love.  And some souvenirs.

One of the first places we visited was the Olympic Stadium, mainly to ride to the top of the tower that holds the roof of the stadium in place for the view. While in the observation deck at the top, Evan and I struck up a conversation with one of the guides there. He wistfully recalled many good times rooting for the Expos, and said Montreal remains a good baseball town with many fans still rooting for the Nats. He thought that most Montreal fans had switched their allegiance to the Blue Jays, but we did run into two local Montreal citizens/fans wearing Nats gear who yelled "Go Nats" when they saw Evan wearing a curly W.

Even though he worked at the Olympic Stadium even he called it a horrible venue for baseball (it hasn't aged well either; the concrete looks worn and crumbly and even the CFL's Alouettes play most of their games at McGill University). As you know, the stadium was built for the 1976 Olympic Games so most of the seats were pretty far from the field. He did say it was loud and had a great echo, so a small crowd could sound huge.

Finally, he knew a lot of the teams' history, both the Expos and the Nats.  He even apologized for the lack of talent that came from Montreal in 2005.  Evan and I defended that team, which after all went 81 and 81, and some of the players.

We expected a lot from our vacation to Montreal, but discussing the merits of Brad Wilkerson and Jose Vidro was not on that list.

Rue Saint Paul is the heart of old Montreal, and features lots of restaurants and tourist shops.  We found a decent amount of Expos gear for sale but all of it was old.  We saw a Gary Carter replica jersey at a few stores, but at each shop they only had 1 small size jersey left.  I was able to find a nameless Expos jersey in my size, a black Expos, and a fitted, authentic New Era hat for Evan. Both hats had been on the shelf so long that the New Era stickers on the bills were hard to remove. And the clerk told me that we bought probably the last, fitted Expos hat he would EVER sell.  He doubted he would ever order any more, or could even order more if he wanted to.  Once their stock is gone, memories of the Expos may disappear, too.

Evan and I wore our new Expos gear the next day, and got a few thumbs up and compliments from folks on the street. We probably had around a dozen Expos interactions with Montrealers if you include seeing 3 or 4 folks we saw on the street wearing their hats or shirts. It was enough to make me feel a little guilty for gaining from their loss

A Few Nats Notes

• The good news: the Nats have won 6 of 10. The bad news: we can't seem to beat the Braves!  What a frustrating series.
• The other good news: we take on the Cubs this week, so a 4-game winning streak may be on the horizon.
• Finally, I don't know what to make of Straburg on Saturday night. I hope he's not hurt, but the way be lost it in the second inning is a concern. He had pin-point control in the first, evidenced by the perfectly placed pitch that hit Justin Upton in the posterior. But in the second he practically beaned the mascot.
• Anyway, we're still 'only' 9 and a half back in the wild card. GO NATS!

162 games in one night

That sound you heard last night was an entire, 162-game season, passing by in one night.  The Nats' 2-3 loss to our new archrival Braves encompassed a season's worth of frustration and sadness - and frustration. Let us count the ways.  

• The game featured another wasted start by Stephen Strasburg. Stras struck out 9 in 7 innings as he had some nasty off speed stuff working.  The Braves tied the game at 1-1 on back to back to back bleeders, and probably had two good swings off of Strasburg all night.  Once again that effort was not good enough thanks to an anemic offense.
• No loss is complete without a wasted key at bat from Jayson Werth. Pinch hitting for Strasburg in the seventh with the go-ahead run on second Werth's strike out was practically pre-ordained. The only surprise is that he went down swinging. Despite being the July Player of the Month Werth and his $14 million-a-year salary is still unreliable in the clutch, and his dramatic game-winning homer in game 4 last year increasingly looks like a case of the blind squirrel finding an acorn.
• Last year, Natitude translated into lots of good luck: walk-off wins due to wild pitches; game-winning pinch hits from Chad Tracy or Tyler Moore; Harper taking baseball by the throat, etc. etc. This year's declaration of 'World Series or Bust' broke one of the cardinal rules of baseball: you have to be humble - or else. Davey Johnson forgot that the greatest sin a human can commit (at least to the ancient Greeks, who have been validated by 3,000 years of history) is hubris. 
• Last year, Natitude also translated into hard hit balls finding gaps and driving in runs. This year, as it was last night, it seems like 90 percent of our line drives find gloves. Case in point is the seventh. Harper hits the ball on the screws right to Heyward. Of course, that line-drive out would have scored the go-ahead run IF Werth had moved the runner to third instead of striking out.  There were numerous line-drive outs last night: Rendon's sacrifice fly could have been a double to the gap; Uggla robs Desmond, etc.
• Last night's loss even featured a bull pen melt down even when Davey made the right move. Clippard has been lights out all season but even he faltered last night, giving up the game-winning homer.  #snakebit. 

I guess to be more precise, I should blog that last night's loss means the passing of the NL East. Catching the Braves, even if we someone sweep the remaining 8 matchups, is unlikely but the wild card is still an option. The Nats are 'only' 7 games back of the Reds and only have to pass one other team, the Diamondbacks, to get there. But as many have said, before the Nats can realistically make ANY run to the playoffs they have to start hitting.  

That brings me to our ray of hope: kudos to Bryce Harper for calling out the team, from the manager on down, last week. Last September he carried us down the stretch and he can do it again. Unless he does, it will be a long, long off season.

Go Nats!