‘Spos take 2 of 3 from Amazin’s

8/11-8/13 - Olympic Stadium
Mets 3, Expos 1
Dwight Gooden vs Dennis Martinez
Let's just call this one "Vintage Doc", which was a terminology used early and often during the mid 80's in NYC.  When Doc Gooden was on a roll he was virtually unhittable, which the Expos could attest to today.  Montreal would get just 3 hits on the day with one being a second inning solo shot by Larry Walker.  For 5 innings it looked like "El Presidente", Dennis Martinez, would milk that 1 run for all it was worth.  Then in the top of the 6th Doc would get all the runs he would need in the form of a 3 run blast by HoJo.  Giving Gooden a 2 run lead when he's mowing down hitters is what's called a "sure thing" in the business.  Doc would go on to strike out 9 enroute to his second win of the season.  El Presidente would give up just 3 unearned runs on the day and be the hard luck loser.  For those keeping score at home an error by Chris Speier prolonged the inning and allowed HoJo to get his time at bat.

Expos 11, Mets 3
Jon Matlack vs Bill Gullickson
Poor Bill Gullickson.  He was cruising with a 1 hitter after 4 innings  then he pulled a muscle in his calf and was removed from the game for precautionary reasons.  Charlie Lea would be mediocre in relief (3 runs in 4 1/3 IP), but the Expo bats were more than mediocre.  A 3-0 lead became a 7-0 lead by the end of 6 innings of play.  Montreal just piled it on as Met lefties:  Matlack & Fernandez couldn't get it done.  Gary Carter (who would do double duty in the series) had himself a field day at the plate going 3 for 4 with 4 RBI and a homer.  The "Hawk", Andre Dawson had himself a 3 for 5 day with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI.  Montreal recorded 16 hits in all in this one sided affair.

Expos 4, Mets 1
Jerry Koosman vs Scott Sanderson
Keith Hernandez' RBI single in the first would be all the runs the Mets would score on the day thanks to Scott Sanderson's dominating performance over 7 strong innings.  Montreal would tie the game in the bottom of the 2nd when Ellis Valentine singled home "the Hawk" with a clutch 2 out hit off of Jerry Koozman.  "Kooz" was none to happy with the strike zone he was being afforded.  Grumbling in the first led to him showing up the home plate ump in the 4th when Gary Carter worked out a walk on a pitch that definitely looked like it cut the inside corner.  After a few seconds of chirping Kooz was given the thumb quite to the surprise of his teammates.  By this point the Expos had a 3-1 lead after tacking on 2 runs in the 3rd on RBI singles by Tim Raines and "El Ghatto" Andres Galarraga.  During both AB's Kooz thought he had strike 3 thrown by them only to be rewarded with a ball 3 call.  Ray Sadecki was summoned with short notice to replace the ejected Koozman.  It took a few batters for Ray to settle down, but a walk to Raines forced in the Expos 4th run of the game.   Joe Hesketh would pitch a perfect 8th inning in relief of Sanderson and Jeff Reardon would do the same in the 9th to log his first save of the season.