Message #1478813

[whytev]

I'm going to make one promise to whytev. There is one thing you will NEVER hear from me. Although for most baseball fans in Washington, the Montreal Expos mean nothing, I'm not going to say that for the sake of fans like you who cheered for the Expos. And should the Nationals advance to meet the Dodgers in the NLCS, and this matchup (for most Nats fans) will only mean we're facing the most prestigious team in the National League, you can damn be sure I'll remind folks that from the perspective of THIS FRANCHISE, the Nats have unfinished business with the Dodgers going back 33 years when the Expos made their only playoff appearance in Montreal and losing to the Dodgers in the 1981 NLCS.


Speaking of the Dodgers, Dodger Stadium was the site of a memorable pitching milestone in the history of the Nats/Expos franchise that NEVER happened while a team was based in Washington, DC. No, not even when Walter Johnson was playing. The original Nats were on the wrong side of this milestone twice in their history---after they moved to Minnesota. Their successor managed to achieve it twenty years ago long after moving to Arlington. (No, Nolan Ryan wasn't pitching.)


I am of course referring to a perfect game which Dennis "El Presidente" Martínez pitched on July 28, 1991. (Coincidentally, the next one pitched by Texas Ranger Kenny Rogers---no relation to the singer in the GEICO commercials---happened on the same day three years later.)

I remember that perfect game like it was yesterday. I loved Martínez!