Giants return to Pac Bell

to open a seven-game

homestand against the

Expos and Mets.

Felipe’s ex team playing

with confidence while

Art Howe’s Mets team

playing …like last year !

By Amaury Pi-GonzálezThe San Francisco Giants

have the biggest lead in

all of Major League

Baseball.

This week Felipe Alou will

have his Giants playing

a team he knows well,

guys he helped to develop,

like Vladimir Guerrero and

José Vidro. The Expos are

‘indeed’ a contending team

in the East and one that

could hang around Atlanta

and Philadelphia for most

of the season.

Felipe is not surprised that

the Expos are playing this

well. And he should not be.

The Expos have lots of

young talent and is an

all around kind of team,

a team that is playing well

and will improve with

time. It is all up to their

young pitching staff

(less Liván Hernández

and his half brother Orlando

“El Duque”)which is hurt.

Frank Robinson is in the

Hall of Fame as a great player

and he has some future Hall

of Fame players in his team

this eason. Potentially two

I have already mentioned

in the second paragraph.

Tony Armas Jr was 12-12

last season with a 4.44

ERA and started 29 games.

Javier Váquez, only 26 years

old started 34 games for

the Expos last season,

finishing 10-13 3.91

Tomo Ohka, just 27 started

31 games last season

and finished with a 13-8

3.18. These are three

good young pitchers.

The Expos might move in

the near future to either:

Washington, D.C.,

Northern Virginia or

Portland, Oregon. But

in the meantime as they

divide their schedule between

Montréal and Puerto Rico

they will showcase this

talent all year and will

beat a lof of good

teams.

Let us not forget

(for those that did)

that the Expos finished

in second place last season

with a 83-79 .512

record, although 19

games behind first

place Atlanta.

For the Expos the road

is the best medicine,

when at home nobody

sees you play. For those

that really dig history,

the Cleveland Spiders

of 1899 who finished

20-134 at one time

PLAYED FIFTY CONSECUTIVE

ROAD GAMES BECAUSE

THEY WERE SO BAD THE

LACK OF FAN INTEREST

IN CLEVELAND FORCED

THEM TO PLAY MORE ON

THE ROAD.

The Spiders in 1899 lost

54 of their las 57 games

and finished 84 games

behind Brooklyn. That

season that dreadful team

had loosing streaks of

24, 15, 14, 13 and 2 streaks

of 11 games each. By the way

they also lost 130 of 154 on

the road ! There were 12

teams on the league(1899).

The Expos are not a bad

team and they could

very easily be challenging

this season for the

wild-card spot in the

National League.

Felipe Alou will manage

against the Expos for

the first time this week

in San Francisco and

Felipe knows that there

is a lof of talent on that

team.

Following the Expos, the

underachieving New York

Mets with their new

manager Art Howe will

come in to play this next

weekend and they bring

a bunch of stars that

continue not to play as

a solid unit but (sometimes)

more like an All Star bunch

on an “exhibition” tour.

Art Howe signed for four

years and a lot of money

and he is already suffering

the pressures of managing

in New York, but I do not

look for Howe to be fired

like Jeff Torborg or maybe

very soon White Sox

skipper Jerry Manuel.

Giants continue to hold

the biggest lead in the

National League and in

all of baseball. Without

closer Rob Nen and

without second baseman

Ray Durham. But this

year Giants bench

is much stronger than

last season and Felipe

will continue to use the

bullpen the same way

giving everybody a shot

and not overusing anybody

during any extended

period of time.

This month of May will

have the Giants playing

Arizona five times and

Colorado seven times

(until June 2). Depending

what the Dodgers do

the rest of the month,

Felipe’s troops could

have a 10 game lead

or more by the start

of June.

I know we all wish the

Giants and the Athletics

the best, we live in a

great area for baseball.

We have a League

Champion and a Division

Champion within 20 miles

distance. Try to find that

in Chicago,New York or

Los Angeles. We arguably

have the best two G.M

in the Major Leagues

in Bean and Sabean and

if that wasn’t enough we

have here the two MVP’S.

Does it get better than

this ? Yes, If the Giants

return to the World Series

and the Athletics finally

make it with this bunch.

I just returned from Seattle

were the Mariners lost

2 of 3 against the Yankees

and won 2 of three against

the White Sox and kept their

tie in first place with the

Athletics. The Mariners

are 10-0 in day games

and Edgar Martínez has

a .400 plus average during

day games highest in the A.L.

Have fun in May !

—————————————————-

Amaury is in the Bay this week to

call Giants games and then back

to Seattle next week.

In the Bay Area you can listen

in Spanish on KZSF 1370 AM

Giants baseball. In Seattle

KKMO 1360 AM plus another

5 stations covering Washington

and Oregon on the “new”Mariners

Spanish Radio Network. Amaury

was a guess with Ken Korach

during Pregame Show

on KFRC 610 AM last month

when A’S visited Safeco Field and

the Mariners.