Pedro Throws Out First Pitch In Montreal

The Red Sox are playing two exhibition games in Montreal this weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays. Boston won 4-2 in 10 innings last night before a crowd of 52,682. Today's game is at 1 PM.

Pedro Martinez, who pitched four seasons for the Expos before being traded to Boston after winning the 1997 NL Cy Young Award, threw out the first pitch last night. Martinez hopes that Montreal gets another major league team soon:

It was great. It was a moment that I was waiting for since '97. I remember I was handed my trophy as a Cy Young winner and the only one in the Expos history and not being able to share it with the fans and with the team and the people here was kind of sad for me. This time around, when everything is over and I'm already in the Hall of Fame, I can say that this is paying back for the fans for what they did. And Montreal was the team that built me to become who I was. ...

I wanted to at any point that I could make a statement and say that Montreal is a baseball place. When I was introduced to Montreal, this was the kind of atmosphere that I was introduced to. I remember the '94 team having 47,000 to 50,000 every day. Then, they were robbed of their team. If you continue to just take the good players out, what interest is going to be there for the fans? I know what it's all about and I know Montreal, and I know Montreal is a baseball city.

In addition to Martinez, Tim Raines, Vladimir Guerrero, Marquis Grissom, Ellis Valentine, and Jose Vidro were honoured on the field before the game.