Vlad Guerrero reaches 400 HR

I grew up an Expos fan. I loved the days of Ron Leflore, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Gary Carter, Steve Rogers. Then as I got older I still loved the Expos, guys like Tim Wallach got my attention. When I got into my early to mid 30's, I was always impressed by Vladimir Guerrero. He had speed, power, played great defense, had a strong arm and could cretainly hit for avergae. He was what the scouts refer to as a 5 tool player.

Unfortunately back in the days of the Expos, they could never afford to keep their star players. I think many of the other teams in baseball saw that the Expos could draft well and develop players and at the right time they could buy them out of the Expos system. Time and time again it happened. I hoped that it wouldn't happen with Vladdy but I knew itwas inevitable.

In just seven full seasons with the Expos he hit 234 homeruns and he stole 123 bases. In 2002 his penultimate season with the Montreal squad Vlad missed out on a 40-40 season by just one HR. He was a dominant player in baseball. This was the final straw for Montreal, there was no way they weregoing to be able to keep him. They did not have the money to keep elite players, and eventually it cost the Expos its franchise.

In 2004 , a sad ting took place. Guerrero ended up being a member of the Anaheim Angels, now the LA Angels. He has continued to be a productive player. This year he has been hit hard by the injury bug. BUT, Vladdy is back. He has hit 4 HR in his last 5 games, and last night he drilled 2 more HR's to give him 9 on the season and 400 in his career. Vlad has hit 25 or more home runs in every season but his rookie campaign, unless he catches on fire it is unlikely he will do that again this year.

Vlad needs just 3 more hits to hit the 2200 mark, and he is just 34. Will he get to 3000 hits and 500 homeruns before his career is over? It seems a long shot. I for one am going to be cheering him on. I still think that he is one of the most imposing hitters in baseball. I wish he were still an Expo, but obviously that will never happen. Maybe, just maybe in two or three years the Nats will be a solid team and they will be looking for a good veteran player to roam the outfield. I can hope right.

Until then go Vladdy and go Nationals. One day the Expos will win a world series. Wait, they should have had the chance in 1981. And yes, I am bitter!!