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1997 Montreal Expos season

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1997 Montreal Expos
LeagueNational League
DivisionEast
BallparkOlympic Stadium
CityMontreal
Record78–84
Divisional place4th
OwnersClaude Brochu
General managersJim Beattie
ManagersFelipe Alou
TelevisionThe Sports Network
(Dave Van Horne, Ken Singleton)
TQS
(Michel Villeneuve, Marc Griffin)
SRC
(Claude Raymond, Rene Pothier)
RDS Network
(Denis Casavant, Rodger Brulotte)
RadioCIQC
(Dave Van Horne, Elliott Price, Joe Cannon, Gary Carter)
CKAC (AM)
(Jacques Doucet, Rodger Brulotte,Alain Chantelois)
← 1996 Seasons 1998 →

The 1997 Montreal Expos season was the 29th season of the franchise. They finished 78–84, 23 games back of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East and 14 games back of the Florida Marlins in the Wild Card. They played the Toronto Blue Jays in Interleague play for the first time during the season.

Offseason

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  • October 28, 1996: John Habyan was released by the Montreal Expos.[1]
  • November 15, 1996: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Seattle Mariners from the Montreal Expos.[2]
  • December 17, 1996: Torey Lovullo was signed as a free agent with the Montreal Expos.[3]
  • January 21, 1997: Lee Smith signed as a free agent with the Montreal Expos.[4]
  • January 28, 1997: Yamil Benitez was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Kansas City Royals for Melvin Bunch.[5]
  • March 26, 1997: Cliff Floyd was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Florida Marlins for Dustin Hermanson and Joe Orsulak.[6]
  • March 31, 1997: Rico Rossy was signed as a free agent with the Montreal Expos.[7]

Spring training

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The Expos held spring training at West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach, Florida – a facility they shared with the Atlanta Braves – for the last time in 1997. It was their 21st season at the stadium; they had conducted spring training there from 1969 to 1972 and since 1981. In the final spring training game at Municipal Stadium, held on March 26, 1997, the Expos defeated the Braves 2-0.[8] The following season, the Expos moved their spring training activities to Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida.

Regular season

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In 1997, Pedro Martínez posted a 17-8 record for the Expos, and led the league in half a dozen pitching categories, including a 1.90 ERA, 305 strikeouts and 13 complete games pitched, and won the National League Cy Young Award. Pedro Martínez was also the first right-handed pitcher to reach 300 strikeouts with an ERA under 2.00 since Walter Johnson in 1912.

The 13 complete games were tied for the second-highest single-season total in all of baseball since Martínez's career began (Curt Schilling had 15 in 1998; Chuck Finley and Jack McDowell also reached 13 in a year). However, this 1997 total is by far the highest in Martínez's career, as he has only completed more than 5 games in one other season (7, in 2000).

  • May 7, 1997 – The Expos set a team record (never broken) in runs scored in one inning as they score 13 runs off of Julián Tavárez, Jim Poole, and Joe Roa of the San Francisco Giants at 3Com Park. The Expos would go on to defeat the Giants 19 to 3. The only non-pitcher on the Expos to not register a hit was Sherman Obando who went 0 for 1. An up-and-coming prospect named Vladimir Guerrero hit his first career double and was struck by his second career pitch. A crowd of 9,958 were on hand to witness it in San Francisco.

Opening-day starters

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Season standings

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NL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Atlanta Braves 101 61 .623 — 50‍–‍31 51‍–‍30
Florida Marlins 92 70 .568 9 52‍–‍29 40‍–‍41
New York Mets 88 74 .543 13 50‍–‍31 38‍–‍43
Montreal Expos 78 84 .481 23 45‍–‍36 33‍–‍48
Philadelphia Phillies 68 94 .420 33 38‍–‍43 30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

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1997 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LA MTL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Atlanta — 9–2 9–2 5–6 4–8 7–4 6–5 10–2 5–7 10–2 5–6 8–3 7–4 8–3 8–7
Chicago 2–9 — 7–5 2–9 2–9 3–9 5–6 4–7 6–5 6–5 7–5 6–5 5–6 4–8 9–6
Cincinnati 2–9 5–7 — 5–6 5–6 5–7 6–5 6–5 2–9 8–3 8–4 5–6 4–7 6–6 9–6
Colorado 6–5 9–2 6–5 — 7–4 5–6 5–7 7–4 6–5 4–7 4–7 4–8 4–8 7–4 9–7
Florida 8–4 9–2 6–5 4–7 — 7–4 7–4 7–5 4–8 6–6 7–4 5–6 5–6 5–6 12–3
Houston 4–7 9–3 7–5 6–5 4–7 — 7–4 8–3 7–4 4–7 6–6 6–5 3–8 9–3 4–11
Los Angeles 5–6 6–5 5–6 7–5 4–7 4–7 — 7–4 6–5 10–1 9–2 5–7 6–6 5–6 9–7
Montreal 2–10 7–4 5–6 4–7 5–7 3–8 4–7 — 5–7 6–6 5–6 8–3 6–5 6–5 12–3
New York 7–5 5–6 9–2 5–6 8–4 4–7 5–6 7–5 — 7–5 7–4 5–6 3–8 9–2 7–8
Philadelphia 2–10 5–6 3–8 7–4 6–6 7–4 1–10 6–6 5–7 — 5–6 7–4 3–8 6–5 5–10
Pittsburgh 6–5 5–7 4–8 7–4 4–7 6–6 2–9 6–5 4–7 6–5 — 5–6 8–3 9–3 7–8
San Diego 3–8 5–6 6–5 8–4 6–5 5–6 7–5 3–8 6–5 4–7 6–5 — 4–8 5–6 8–8
San Francisco 4–7 6–5 7–4 8–4 6–5 8–3 6–6 5–6 8–3 8–3 3–8 8–4 — 3–8 10–6
St. Louis 3–8 8–4 6–6 4–7 6–5 3–9 6–5 5–6 2–9 5–6 3–9 6–5 8–3 — 8–7
Expos vs. American League
Team AL East
BAL BOS DET NYY TOR
Montreal 2–1 3–0 3–0 2–1 2–1

Notable transactions

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  • May 20, 1997: Torey Lovullo was released by the Montreal Expos.[3]
  • July 25, 1997: Omar Daal was selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Montreal Expos.[9]
  • July 31, 1997: Jeff Juden was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Cleveland Indians for Steve Kline.[10]
  • September 25, 1997: Lee Smith was released by the Montreal Expos.[4]

Roster

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1997 Montreal Expos
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Interleague play

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  • June 30 – The first interleague game between the Montreal Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays took place at SkyDome. The Expos won the game by a score of 2-1.[11]

Expos vs. Jays

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June 30, SkyDome, Toronto, Ontario

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Montreal 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 6 0
Toronto 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 0
W: Pedro Martínez (10-3)  L: Pat Hentgen (8-5)
Home Runs: Vladimir Guerrero (4), Carlos Delgado (15) Attendance: 37,430 Time: 2:03

Batting

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Montreal Expos AB R H RBI Toronto Blue Jays AB R H RBI
Grudzielanek, ss 3 1 1 0 Nixon cf 4 0 1 0
Lansing 2b 4 0 0 0 Merced dh 4 0 0 0
Santangelo 3b 4 0 0 0 Carter lf 4 0 0 0
Segui 1b 3 0 2 1 Delgado 1b 2 1 1 1
Rodriguez lf 4 0 0 0 Sprague 3b 3 0 0 0
Orsulak lf 0 0 0 0 Green rf 3 0 0 0
Guerrero rf 4 1 2 1 Santiago c 3 0 0 0
McGuire dh 3 0 0 0 Gonzalez ss 3 0 1 0
White cf 3 0 0 0 Garcia 2b 3 0 0 0
Widger c 3 0 1 0 NONE 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 2 6 2 Totals 29 1 3 1

Pitching

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Montreal Expos IP H R ER BB SO
Martinez W (10-3) 9.0 3 1 1 1 10
Totals 9.0 3 1 1 1 10
Toronto Blue Jays IP H R ER BB SO
Hentgen L (8-5) 9.0 6 2 2 1 3
Totals 9.0 6 2 2 1 3

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Chris Widger 91 278 65 .234 7 37
1B David Segui 125 459 141 .307 21 68
2B Mike Lansing 144 572 161 .281 20 70
SS Mark Grudzielanek 156 649 177 .273 4 51
3B Doug Strange 118 327 84 .257 12 47
LF Henry Rodriguez 132 476 116 .244 26 83
CF Rondell White 151 592 160 .270 28 82
RF Vladimir Guerrero 90 325 98 .302 11 40

Other batters

[edit]

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
F.P. Santangelo 130 350 87 .249 5 31
Darrin Fletcher 96 310 86 .277 17 55
Ryan McGuire 84 199 51 .256 3 17
José Vidro 67 169 42 .249 2 17
Joe Orsulak 106 150 34 .227 1 7
Andy Stankiewicz 76 107 24 .224 1 5
Shane Andrews 18 64 13 .203 4 9
Sherman Obando 41 47 6 .128 2 9
Brad Fullmer 19 40 12 .300 3 8
Raúl Chávez 13 26 7 .269 0 2
Hensley Meulens 16 24 7 .292 2 6
Orlando Cabrera 16 18 4 .222 0 2

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Pedro Martínez 31 241.1 17 8 1.90 305
Carlos Pérez 33 206.2 12 13 3.88 110
Dustin Hermanson 32 158.1 8 8 3.69 136
Jeff Juden 22 130.0 11 5 4.22 107
Mike Johnson 11 50.0 2 5 5.94 28
Rhéal Cormier 1 1.1 0 1 33.75 0

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jim Bullinger 36 155.1 7 12 5.56 87
Marc Valdes 48 95.0 4 4 3.13 54
José Paniagua 9 18.0 1 2 12.00 8
Mike Thurman 5 11.2 1 0 5.40 8

Relief pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Ugueth Urbina 63 5 8 27 3.78 84
Anthony Telford 65 4 6 1 3.24 61
Dave Veres 53 2 3 1 3.48 47
Omar Daal 33 1 2 1 9.79 16
Steve Kline 26 1 3 0 6.15 20
Lee Smith 25 0 1 5 5.82 15
Rick DeHart 23 2 1 0 5.52 29
Shayne Bennett 16 0 1 0 3.18 8
Salomón Torres 12 0 0 0 7.25 11
Steve Falteisek 5 0 0 0 3.38 2
Everett Stull 3 0 1 0 16.20 2

Award winners

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1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

  • Pedro Martínez, pitcher, reserve

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Ottawa Lynx International League Pat Kelly
AA Harrisburg Senators Eastern League Rick Sofield
A West Palm Beach Expos Florida State League Doug Sisson
A Cape Fear Crocs South Atlantic League Phil Stephenson
A-Short Season Vermont Expos New York–Penn League Kevin Higgins
Rookie GCL Expos Gulf Coast League Luis Dorante

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Harrisburg[12]

References

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  1. ^ "John Habyan Stats".
  2. ^ "Dave Silvestri Stats".
  3. ^ a b "Torey Lovullo Stats".
  4. ^ a b Lee Smith Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  5. ^ "Yamil Benitez Stats".
  6. ^ Cliff Floyd Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  7. ^ "Rico Rossy Stats".
  8. ^ "Around the NL". St. Petersburg Times. March 27, 1997. p. 5C.
  9. ^ "Omar Daal Stats".
  10. ^ Jeff Juden Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  11. ^ "1997 Toronto Blue Jays Schedule by Baseball Almanac".
  12. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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