Baseball

Expos right at home

A 10-0 rout of the Mets opens Montreal's 22 home games in Puerto Rico.

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 12, 2003

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The Expos warmed to Puerto Rico fast.

Brad Wilkerson and Brian Schneider homered off David Cone, and Tomo Ohka allowed one hit in eight innings as Los Expos rolled past the Mets 10-0 Friday night in the first of 22 Montreal home games in San Juan.

Schneider put the Expos ahead with a two-run shot in the third, and Wilkerson capped the seven-run inning with his first career grand slam. Local hero Jose Vidro added a two-run homer off Graeme Lloyd in the eighth.

"It was perfect," said Vidro, who fought back tears as he rounded the bases. "If it's going to be like that for the 22 games that we're going to be here, it's welcome."

New York had two hits, Cliff Floyd's broken-bat single in the fourth and Roger Cedeno's single on a topper in front of the plate in the ninth.

"We didn't waste anything for tomorrow, that's for sure," manager Art Howe said.

Beisbol, island style, began with a crowd of 17,906 in Hiram Bithorn Stadium, which was expanded to 20,000 seats. It was larger than the attendance for all but eight Expos games last season at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, which holds 46,000.

Having a ballpark full of fans was nearly as important to the Expos as the win.

"I'll take the impression of looking around and seeing all the seats filled," manager Frank Robinson said.

Fans did the wave, chanted "Let's go Mets!" several times and "Ole!" They greeted their local stars, Roberto Alomar and Rey Sanchez of the Mets and Vidro, with standing ovations. For Vidro, it was the first time his mother saw him play a major-league game.

"I was more nervous today than in my first game in the big leagues," he said.

There was thumping Latin music and dancers on the field between innings, and one fan held up a sign that read "Puerto Rico's Expos," but once the game got going, major-league beisbol was the same as baseball.

In a concession to the times, there were police sharpshooters in the bullpens, watching the fans and the spongy green artificial turf.

Ohka became the first Japanese pitcher to win in Puerto Rico, striking out seven and walking four. Scott Stewart finished.

"That's as good as I've ever seen him," Howe said of Ohka. "He had a split and a changeup working."

It was 79 degrees at game time and the Expos improved to 6-0 when the temperature is above 40. They're 0-4 when it's below. Tuesday at Wrigley Field, there was snow on the ivy.

New York left its bats on the mainland, where it hasn't been potent to begin with. The Mets, who have lost three straight and four of five, have 30 runs in 10 games. Howe isn't considering juggling the lineup.

"If I have to, I'll do something, but I don't know if we're at that point just yet," Howe said. "If you're 0-for-4 in one part of the lineup, you're 0-for-4 in the other part. What's the difference?"

Cone beat Montreal on April 4 for his first victory since the 2001 season. Friday he got the ball up in the small dimensions of Bithorn -- 398 to center, 315 to left and 313 to right -- and lost for the first time since Oct.1, 2001, for Boston at Tampa Bay.

Cone lasted four innings, allowing seven runs, eight hits and three walks, one intentional.

"That," he said, "might have been the fastest seven runs I've given up."

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