2004 Montreal Expos season

2004 Montreal Expos
Final Season in Montreal
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1969)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Olympic Stadium (since 1977)
Montreal (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	Major League Baseball
Manager(s)	Frank Robinson
Local television	Réseau des sports (Rodger Brulotte, Denis Casavant) SCORE TV (Sam Cosentino, Darrin Fletcher, Brett Dolan, Rance Mulliniks, Joe Block)
Local radio	CKGM (AM) (Mitch Melnick, Elliott Price, guest play-by-play broadcasters) CKAC (AM) (Jacques Doucet, Marc Griffin)
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In 2004, the Montreal Expos played their 36th and final season in Montreal. The team finished in fifth and last place in the National League East at 67-95, 29 games behind the Atlanta Braves. After the season, the team relocated to Washington, D.C., and became the Washington Nationals, as Major League Baseball returned to Washington, after a 33-year absence.

Offseason

December 16, 2003: Javier Vázquez was traded by the Expos to the New York Yankees for Nick Johnson, Randy Choate and Juan Rivera.^[1]
January 6, 2004: Tony Batista was signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.^[2]
January 8, 2004: Luis Lopez was signed as a free agent by the Expos.^[3]

Regular season

Opening Day starters

Banner raised during Montreal's final game in Olympic Stadium

Season standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	96	66	0.593	—	49–32	47–34
Philadelphia Phillies	86	76	0.531	10	42–39	44–37
Florida Marlins	83	79	0.512	13	42–38	41–41
New York Mets	71	91	0.438	25	38–43	33–48
Montreal Expos	67	95	0.414	29	35–45	32–50

Notable transactions

June 11, 2004: Luis Lopez was released by the Expos.^[3]
July 31, 2004: Orlando Cabrera was traded as part of a 4-team trade by the Expos to the Boston Red Sox. The Chicago Cubs sent Brendan Harris, Alex Gonzalez, and Francis Beltrán to the Expos. The Red Sox sent Nomar Garciaparra and Matt Murton to the Cubs. The Minnesota Twins sent Doug Mientkiewicz to the Red Sox. The Cubs sent Justin Jones (minors) to the Twins.^[4]
September 16, 2004: Alex Gonzalez was sent by the Expos to the San Diego Padres as part of a conditional deal.^[5]

Roster

2004 Montreal Expos

Roster

Pitchers

36 Tony Armas, Jr.

56 Luis Ayala

55 Francis Beltrán

50 Rigo Beltrán

57 Chad Bentz

60 Rocky Biddle

47 Roy Corcoran

32 Chad Cordero

54 Zach Day

37 Scott Downs

58 Joey Eischen

40 Jeremy Fikac

61 Liván Hernández

49 Shawn Hill

59 Joe Horgan

31 Sun Woo Kim

50 Gary Majewski

34 Tomo Ohka

21 John Patterson

51 Jon Rauch

52 T. J. Tucker

33 Claudio Vargas

Catchers

9 Einar Díaz

23 Brian Schneider

Infielders

7 Tony Batista

18 Orlando Cabrera

5 Jamey Carroll

12 Andy Fox

11 Alex Gonzalez

12 Brendan Harris

2 Maicer Izturis

24 Nick Johnson

1 Josh Labandeira

37 Luis Lopez

4 Henry Mateo

3 José Vidro

6 Brad Wilkerson

Outfielders

11 Peter Bergeron

22 Ron Calloway

29 Matt Cepicky

19 Endy Chávez

38 Ryan Church

2 Carl Everett

35 Valentino Pascucci

53 Juan Rivera

48 Terrmel Sledge

Manager

20 Frank Robinson

Coaches

14 Manny Acta (third base)

17 Tommy McCraw (hitting)

28 Jerry Morales (first base)

13 Bob Natal (bullpen)

16 Claude Raymond (roving)

46 Randy St. Claire (pitching)

Final days

September 29, 2004: Hours after the announcement of the impending move to Washington DC, the Expos played their final game in Montreal, a 9–1 loss to the Florida Marlins before 31,395 fans at Olympic Stadium. On that day the MLB officially recognized the 1994 Expos as "The Best Team in Baseball" with a banner for the center field wall, (ironically that banner only lasted one game as it was the last Expos game in Montreal). The game was almost forfeited in the 8th inning when Expos fans threw golf balls onto the field in hopes of making the game longer.
October 2, 2004: The Expos earned their last win before becoming the Nationals, defeating the New York Mets 6–3. Brad Wilkerson hit the last home run in Expos history in the ninth inning, his 32nd of the year.
October 3, 2004: The New York Mets defeated Montreal 8–1 at Shea Stadium, in the final game as the Montreal Expos. Jamey Carroll scored the last Expos run and Endy Chávez became the final Expo batter in history when he grounded out in the top of the ninth to end the game. Coincidentally, Shea Stadium was where the Expos had played their first-ever game, in 1969.

The Final Game in Montreal

Scorecard

September 29, Olympic Stadium, Montréal, Québec

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida	0	4	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	9	15	1
Montreal	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	2
W: Pavano (18-8) L: Kim (4-6) HRs: Cabrera (32)
Attendance: 31,395 Time:2:39

Batting

Florida Marlins	AB	R	H	RBI	Montreal Expos	AB	R	H	RBI
Juan Pierre, CF	5	0	2	2	Brad Wilkerson, 1B	2	0	1	0
Paul LoDuca, C	4	0	0	0	Labandeira, 2B	2	0	0	0
Matt Treanor PH,C	1	0	0	0	Izturis SS	4	0	0	0
Miguel Cabrera IF	4	2	1	1	Tony Batista 3B	2	1	1	0
Mike Lowell 3B	4	1	3	0	Pascucci 1B	2	0	0	0
Mordecai 3B	1	0	0	0	Terrmel Sledge lF	4	0	0	0
Jeff Conine 1B	5	2	3	1	Rivera CF	3	0	3	1
Aguila RF	5	1	1	0	Ryan Church RF	3	0	1	0
Luis Castillo 2B	2	2	1	1	Einar Diaz C	3	0	1	0
Damion Easley PH,2B	2	0	1	0	Harris 2B,3B	3	0	0	0
Álex González SS	5	1	2	2	Kim P	0	0	0	0
Carl Pavano P	4	0	1	1	Gary Majewski P	1	0	0	0
David Weathers P	0	0	0	0	Tucker P	0	0	0	0
Seanez P	0	0	0	0	Jamey Carroll PH	1	0	0	0
Horgan p	0	0	0	0
Beltran, p	0	0	0	0
Chavez, ph	1	0	0	0
Cordero, p	0	0	0	0
Totals	42	9	15	8	Totals	31	1	7	1

Pitching

Florida Marlins	IP	H	R	ER	SO
Pavano, W (18-8)	7.0	7	1	1	3
Weathers	1.0	0	0	0	1
Seanez	1.0	0	0	0	0
Totals	9.0	7	1	1	4

Montreal Expos	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Kim, L (4-6)	2.0	5	5	2	1	1
Majewski	2.1	2	2	2	1	1
Tucker	0.2	4	2	2	0	1
Horgan	2.0	2	0	0	0	2
Beltran	1.0	1	0	0	0	1
Cordero	1.0	1	0	0	0	2
Totals	9.0	15	9	6	2	8

The Final Game as the Expos

Scorecard

October 3, Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Montreal	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	2
New York	1	0	2	0	1	3	0	1	x	8	11	1
W: Tom Glavine (11-14) L: John Patterson (4-7) HRs: David Wright (14), Todd Zeile (9)
Attendance: 33,569 Time:3:10

Batting

Montreal Expos	AB	R	H	RBI	New York Mets	AB	R	H	RBI
Wilkerson, 1b	3	0	0	0	Reyes, ss	4	2	1	0
Chavez, cf	1	0	0	0	Matsui, 2b	4	0	1	1
Carroll, 2b	2	1	0	0	Bell, p	0	0	0	0
Pascucci rf,1b	4	0	3	0	Franco, p	0	0	0	0
Sledge, lf	3	0	2	1	Delgado, ph	1	0	1	1
Church cf,rf	4	0	0	0	Hietpas, c	0	0	0	0
Diaz, c	4	0	0	0	Wright, 3b	3	1	2	3
Harris, 3b	3	0	0	0	Piazza, 1b	2	0	1	0
Labandeira, ss	4	0	0	0	Brazell, 1b	2	0	0	0
Patterson, p	2	0	0	0	Cameron, cf	4	0	0	0
Vargas, p	0	0	0	0	Valent, lf	4	1	2	0
Batista, ph	1	0	0	0	Williams, lf	0	0	0	0
Rauch, p	0	0	0	0	Diaz, rf	4	1	1	0
Beltran, p	0	0	0	0	Zeile, c	3	1	1	3
Izturis, ph	1	0	0	0	Garcia, ph	1	1	1	0
Fortunato, p	0	0	0	0
Glavine, p	0	1	0	0
Keppinger ph,2b	1	0	0	0
Totals	32	1	5	1	Totals	33	8	11	8

Pitching

Montreal Expos	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Patterson, L (4-7)	4.1	4	4	4	3	3
Vargas	1.2	3	3	3	0	1
Rauch	1.0	2	0	0	0	1
Beltran	1.0	2	1	1	1	1
TOTALS	8.0	11	8	8	4	6

New York Mets	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Glavine, W, (11-14)	6.0	3	1	1	4	5
Bell	1.2	1	0	0	0	2
Franco	0.1	1	0	0	0	0
Fortunato	1.0	0	0	0	1	2
TOTALS	9.0	5	1	1	5	9

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

Other batters

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
Johnson, NickNick Johnson	73	251	63	.251	7	33
Gonzalez, AlexAlex Gonzalez	35	133	32	.241	4	16

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Armas, Jr., TonyTony Armas, Jr.	16	72	2	4	4.88	54

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Awards and honors

Liván Hernández, Silver Slugger Award

League leaders

Liván Hernández, National League Leader, Complete Games, 9
Liván Hernández, National League Leader, Innings Pitched, 255.0
Liván Hernández, National League Leader, 3,927 pitches thrown

All-Stars

2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Liván Hernández, Pitcher, Reserve

Relocation to Washington

After several years in a holding pattern, MLB began actively looking for a relocation site for the Expos. Some of the choices included Orlando, Florida; Dayton, Ohio; Oklahoma City; Washington D.C.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Monterrey, Mexico; Portland, Oregon; Northern Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia; and Charlotte, North Carolina. In the decision-making process, Commissioner Bud Selig added Las Vegas, Nevada to the list of potential Expos homes.

On September 29, 2004, MLB officially announced that the Expos would move to Washington, D.C. in 2005. The move was approved by the owners of the other teams in a 28–1 vote on December 3 (Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos cast the sole dissenting vote). In addition, on November 15, 2004, a lawsuit by the former team owners against MLB and former majority owner Jeffrey Loria was struck down by arbitrators, ending legal moves to keep the Expos in Montreal.

Retired numbers ceremony

As a tribute to the Expos, on October 18, 2005, the Montreal Canadiens honoured the departed team by raising an Expos commemorative banner, which lists the retired numbers, to the rafters of the Bell Centre. Gary Carter and Andre Dawson were at the ceremony with Youppi, who was now the Canadiens mascot. The Banner featured all of the Expos retired numbers:

8 Gary Carter, C, 1974-84 & 1992
10 Andre Dawson, OF, 1977–86 and Rusty Staub, OF, 1969-71 & 1979
30 Tim Raines, OF, 1979-90 & 2001
42 Jackie Robinson (retired throughout baseball; played with the Montreal Royals in 1946)

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Edmonton Trappers	Pacific Coast League	Dave Huppert
AA	Harrisburg Senators	Eastern League	Dave Machemer
A	Brevard County Manatees	Florida State League	Tim Raines
A	Savannah Sand Gnats	South Atlantic League	Bob Henley
Short-Season A	Vermont Expos	New York-Penn League	Jose Alguacil
Rookie	GCL Expos	Gulf Coast League	Arturo DeFreites

^[6]

Notes

↑ Nick Johnson page at Baseball Reference
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/batisto01.shtml
↑ 3.0 3.1 Luis Lopez page at Baseball Reference
↑ Orlando Cabrera page at Baseball Reference
↑ Alex Gonzalez page at Baseball Reference
↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 2007

References

External links

Montreal

Washington

2004 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston New York Tampa Bay Toronto

AL Central	Chicago Cleveland Detroit Kansas City Minnesota

AL West	Anaheim Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Atlanta Florida Montréal New York Philadelphia

NL Central	Chicago Cincinnati Houston Milwaukee Pittsburgh St. Louis

NL West	Arizona Colorado Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

Montreal Expos

Now the Washington Nationals
Based in Montreal, Quebec (1969–2004)

The franchise

Ballparks

Jarry Park Olympic Stadium Hiram Bithorn Stadium

Spring Training:	City Island Ball Park Municipal Stadium Roger Dean Stadium Space Coast Stadium

Culture

Rivalries

Toronto Blue Jays

Retired numbers

Titles

National League East: 1981 (second half)

Legacy

Washington Nationals

Seasons (36)

1960s	1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004