Our Z'Amours, our pleasures

DAY

It was the photo on the page of Rodger Brulotte, the one at the bottom in the middle, of Andre Dawson, Rodney Scott and Ellis Valentine that capsized me.

Look at Scott's priceless face. A real bum, taciturn, feisty, a bit powdered, intimidating goal stealer, always tight in his pants to show off his slender and muscular legs…

And that of Ellis Valentine, owner of the most discussed pair of buttocks in Quebec after that of Valérie in “ LE ” film and Pierre Bouchard sitting too much on the Canadian bench. When Ellis was too frozen to play ball, the Expos told us he had pain in a nerve in his buttocks. 

Left or right, it depended on Monique Giroux's goodwill , the publicist who made the Canadian's Claude Mouton pale.

Today, the great Ellis continues his career as a street worker with young people in difficulty in California.

Only Tim Raines is missing to find colorful, spectacular players, big mouths and big hearts who have given great pleasure for almost twenty years.

The twenty years of the great Z'Amours teams who fought to enter the playoffs when it was reserved for division winners. In other words, the best runner-up ran away on vacation.

SLIPPER, THE TOUCH AND THE OTHERS

For today's baseball fans who saw the Z'Amours play with their eyes, we remember more the great edition of 1994. With Marquis Grissom, Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Denis Boucher, Mel Rojas, Touche's favourite, John Wetteland, Kenny Hill who was scary when he was hungry during a doubleheader and all the other Felipe Alou fellows.

They were also pissed, but less cold than their big brothers of 1980. Felipe Alou had more nose than Bill Virdon known as Soeur Sourire or even Dick Williams. And Felipe was nice and outgoing with reporters, but he was short-lived when someone questioned one of his decisions.

I remember with two outs he took third baseman Sean Berry , a Mr Perfect, to replace him with a pinch hitter. The humble columnist took the liberty of asking:

— Felipe, you replaced Sean Berry with So Such and such. Still, Berry has a better batting average. I don't really understand…

Felipe had looked at me, his eyes black, his mustache shrunken, and had just answered with another question:

— And you, how do you measure the size of the balls?

I understood that Berry did not have them very big with two outs and a runner in scoring position.

THE PAGE SLIPPERS

I was flipping the page over to Pantoufle, Rodger Brulotte's baseball name, when another point jumped out at me. The sapré Rodger had gathered his Z'Amours taking into account a theme for each photo. There is the photo of the pioneers of the first Expos of 1969 at Jarry Park. Claude Raymond, Ron Brand and Bill Stoneman. The beautiful brummel had launched two games without points or hits with the Z'Amours and ended up as general manager of the California Angels. And he left Montreal with Diane, his very pretty Quebec wife.

Then the 1994 photo with Moises Alou, Darrin Fletcher the catcher and Denis Boucher, the left-handed pitcher who turned to politics hoping to make Lachine Quebecers smile with a slippery on the corner of home plate.

< p> Here, the most surprising photo. Bill Lee, who would rather eat his pot over his cereal than smoke it, poses with Bob Gainey and Chris Chelios. The three have one thing in common. They were winning games.

And then there is a photo that was a personal choice of Pantoufle. Even for the layout. Vladimir Guerrero and Felipe Alou, the best at their position in Expos history, have agreed to pose for Rodger. While we were taking the pictures, Vladimir Jr. had to pull one out of the stadium for the Blue Jays. Good evening, she's gone!!!

THE SMILING NOSTALGIA

This page will bring a smile of happiness to all those who have lived near or far these incredible adventures of major league baseball in the metropolis.

No one will be able to relive the fun that these series races have given us. Journalists, commentators, players, managers, supporters, superfans or cashiers in the banks who listened to the matches while responding to customers.

Everywhere, all the time, Quebec and sometimes Canada before the Blue Jays lived to the rhythm of strikes, balls and hits. With the voices of Guy Ferron, Jean-Pierre Roy, Monsieur Lebrun, Groutcho, Pantoufle, Le Français, Parking Marion, Downtown Milo and others…

From the sky , Bijou must be watching all of this with a smile.

Yves Lévesque's victory

Marie-Pier Houle was solidly beaten by Sandy Ryan in the Wales.

Ryan was faster and stronger. But no one can take credit away from Marie-Pier, who fought bravely and didn't just play turtle to protect herself. 

She forced exchanges and tried to turn the tide of the fight until the last seconds of the confrontation. 

She will have another chance. 

Marie- Pier Houle could not count on a corner as experienced and solid as some champions we know. Artur Beterbiev, with Marc Ramsay, Russ Anber, Sam Décarie and Luc-Vincent Ouellet, she could count on the crème de la crème. 

The big winner

But Sébastien Gauthier will learn and Pierre Bouchard already has experience. 

The big winner is broker Yves Lévesque. He believed in Marie-Pier Houle from the start. He was his insurer, his manager, his sponsor and the president of his fan club. 

He spent the week of the fight with his boxer and I am convinced that he was the one who paid for the little extras that make preparation more bearable.