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NYPL Vermont Lake Monsters

Expos struggles against Cards continue

September 1, 2004 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Vermont Lake Monsters News Release


AUGUSTA, NJ --- If the Vermont Expos are going to finish the 2004 season with a .500 record, they are going to have to do so by winning their last four games at Centennial Field after suffering a 4-3 loss to the New Jersey Cardinals in New York-Penn League action Wednesday night at Skylands Park.

New Jersey's 4-3 win Wednesday gave the Cardinals a sweep in the three-game series with all three wins by one run. The Expos dropped a doubleheader at New Jersey on Tuesday 1-0 and 2-1, dropping Vermont to 11-13 overall this season in one-run games.

And when you have a lot of one-run losses, you look can point at a lot of missed opportunities in a game. That was the case for the Expos on Wednesday as Vermont grounded into four double plays over the first five innings, including an inning-ending double play in the second inning after four straight walks had given Vermont a 1-0 lead.

After the Cardinals tied the game with an unearned run in the third, the Expos took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a one-out solo home run from Luke Montz. The home run was the 10th of the season for Montz, making him just the second Vermont player in history with a double-figure home run season (Matt Cepicky had 12 in 1999). The home run was also the 46th homer of the season for the Expos, breaking the club record of 45 set in 1999.

New Jersey tied the game again in the bottom of the fourth on another unearned run, then took the lead in the sixth inning on a two-out RBI single from Matt Shepherd. It was the Expos turn to come back as they scored to tie the game 3-3 in the seventh inning on a leadoff double from Montz and a one-out RBI single from Salomon Manriquez, but Manriquez was stranded in scoring position after back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

The Cardinals scored the eventual winning run in the bottom of the seventh with a leadoff double and two-out RBI single off reliever David Trahan (3-2), who allowed 2 runs on four hits over three innings to take the loss.

Montz was 2-for-3 and scored all three runs for the Expos, who managed just nine hits in 23 innings of play in the three games at New Jersey. Tony Granadillo, who was 2-for-31 on the season before going 3-for-3 in the second game of the doubleheader Tuesday, had another three-hit game for the Cardinals on Wednesday.

Vermont (32-36), which has lost five of its last six games after evening its record at 31-31, will host the Lowell Spinners at Centennial for a four-game series over the next three days. The Expos will have to win all four, including a doubleheader on Thursday beginning at 6:05 p.m., to finish with a .500 or better record for just the second time in the last eight years and the fifth time in the team's 11-year history.

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New York-Penn League Stories from September 1, 2004


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