Retro Expo

Tatis is doing his best to regain his form of old

By Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated

Team: Montreal Expos

Site: Viera, Fla.

Weather: 73 degrees, breezy and overcast with a morning fog that obscured the cows in the pasture beyond the center field fence.

Player I Saw Whom I Really Liked: Fernando Tatis. The problematic third baseman is down about 30 pounds from the start of 2002, when he faintly resembled a Buddha-in-training, and has lost maybe another 10 since the end of last season. In 2002, he struggled with patellar tendinitis in his left knee and was bothered by a right shoulder problem, which he thinks was caused by overcompensating for his bum knee. Tatis wound up having to throw across the diamond in a near-submarine motion, but during spring training he has been coming over the top. Against the Astros on Friday, he spanked a fastball to center field off left-hander Jesus Sanchez to drive in a run in the fourth inning. Tatis is coming off two disastrous seasons in Montreal, but at least he seems to be giving himself a chance to contribute.

Around the Horn: Gary Carter might be dragged kicking and screaming into Cooperstown in an Expos cap, but the Met-to-his-bones wore one yesterday as he threw out the first pitch for Montreal's spring training opener against the Astros. Carter doffed the red spring training lid while receiving warm applause from a sparse crowd. The Kid is the second Hall of Famer to have played with the Expos; the other is Tony Perez (1977-79), best known as a member of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine. (Pete Rose, incidentally, would be a third.) Carter, who is working as a Mets catching instructor this spring, is featured on the cover of the 2003 Expos media guide. ... Montreal has 52 players in camp, representing nine countries plus Puerto Rico. ... Peter Bergeron, the Opening Day center fielder in 2002, is the invisible man in camp. He quickly played himself out of the job last year and is a distant afterthought now. Part of the problem: he freezes at the plate with two strikes. In an intrasquad game Thursday, he struck out looking. ...The Expos have been doing their utmost to de-teal Space Coast Stadium, the former spring home of the Florida Marlins. Montreal has placed several hundred Expos stickers over old Marlins logos and painted most things a deep blue. Not that we have much fashion sense, but the teal-colored stadium seats really do clash with the new color scheme.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael Farber will check in periodically with reports from his tour of spring camps.

 

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