Memory Lane
This one takes me back. The only time, to this day, that I have left the United States was to go Canada for an Expos game. I distinctly remember having the opportunity to see Roger Clemens, who I grew up watching on the Yankees, don an Astros uniform north of the border. Clemens would go on to win the Cy Young award that season, and I would go on to watch an unexpected Expos win in their final season in Montreal.
The Expos have since moved south to Washington, DC., where they managed to win a World Series within a 15-year span. Being able to see this team play in their home park is a fond memory of mine, especially since I no longer would have had that opportunity.
Box Score- Expos 6, Astros 4 in Extra Innings
Now, as cool as the seeing the Expos play was, I had no idea at the time how much talent I was seeing from the Houston side. When you have three current hall of famers (Craig Biggio, Lance Berkman and Jeff Bagwell) and two nearly hall worthy players (Jeff Kent and Carlos Beltran) in the top-5 of your line up, with the aforementioned 7-Time Cy Young award winning pitcher on the mound, it can feel like an All-Star game. The irony of the this seemingly star studded roster, is that they actually lost in 12-innings, 6-4.
Pitcher Bomb!
The tallest player in Major League Baseball History, 6′ 11″, Jon Rauch, homered off Roger Clemens.
Who doesn’t love when pitchers go yard?! Now that this is a thing of the past (aside from Shohei Ohtani) looking back at seeing what would often be penciled in as an automatic out turn into runs makes it that much more special. Rauch, a career .095 hitter, had 1 of his 2 career hits that day (a home run) and 2 of his 3 career RBI’s.
Big Flies, North of the Border
Personally, I love two types of games above all. First and foremost, what real baseball fan does not appreciate a good pitcher’s duel? Two arms, going toe-to-toe on the mound, giving the offense problems all day long. On the other hand, every one loves a slugfest.
In this game, there were 6 (six!) home runs.
- Jon Rauch
- Brad Wilkerson
- Carlos Beltran
- Jeff Kent
- Morgan Ensberg
- Alex Gonzalez
I guess Olympic Park was a hitter’s park!
No Hitter Watch?
I have no recollection of this at all (to be fair, I was 9-years old) but Rauch not only went yard, but also had a No-Hitter into the 5th inning! Growing up I remember Rauch as a reliever, but I guess he started out as a pretty decent starting pitcher.
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