Jameson Taillon feels at home against Blue Jays at Montreal

Revue de presse

By Stephen J. Nesbitt / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MONTREAL — Right-hander Jameson Taillon stood in the visiting clubhouse at Olympic Stadium late Friday night and rehearsed his morning coffee-shop request, je voudrais un cafe. A dual-citizen who never lived in Canada like his parents did, Taillon is magnetized by Montreal. And it’s not only because the locals pronounce his last name “even better than I do,” he added.

Taillon seemed at home on the mound, allowing one run in three innings against a loaded lineup in the first of two exhibition games between the Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays in Montreal. The Friday attendance was 43,180, down slightly from the Blue Jays’ exhibition series the previous three springs, but plenty to excite Taillon, who had about 20 relatives at the game.

“This is different than spring training,” Taillon said. “This felt real.”

Taillon, who will start Wednesday opposite Boston Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale, was born in Lakeland, Fla., and grew up in Texas, but his mother is from Toronto and his father from Cornwall, Ontario. Taillon recalled coming to a Montreal Expos game at Olympic Stadium with his extended family in the early 2000s, a few years before the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C., after the 2004 season.

Asked if he believed Montreal could again become a major league city, Taillon nodded.

Photo ci-dessus : Both of Jameson Taillon’s parents are Canadian. (Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)

“I know [the players] are all impressed by it,” he said. “Loud fans, big turnout. Obviously, you have to do it for 81 games in the regular season, but I’m blown away.”

A majority of the crowd at Olympic Stadium Friday seemed unaware of Taillon’s Canadian heritage, staying silent during his introduction. One of the largest roars of the night — perhaps as loud, if not louder, than for Tim Raines, the ex-Expos outfielder headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer — was reserved for the local Montrealer, Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin.

Martin, 34, spent his early childhood years living with his mother, first in Chelsea, Quebec — an Ottawa suburb — and then Paris, and then Chelsea again. He began playing baseball and hockey once he moved to Montreal to live with his father, and he graduated from Polyvalente Edouard-Montpetit, a high school less than two miles from Olympic Stadium.

As Martin walked to home plate for his first at-bat Friday, catcher Francisco Cervelli stepped in front of the plate to give Martin his moment. The crowd showered Martin with a standing ovation. Youppi, the former Expos mascot since sold to the Montreal Canadiens, bowed to Martin. After saluting and waving his bat to the fans, Martin thanked Cervelli — the starting catcher the Pirates acquired in November 2014 after Martin hit free agency — with a shinguard tap.

“Russell Martin’s ovation was one of the coolest things I’ve seen on a baseball field,” Taillon said.

Neither Martin nor Taillon played for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic this spring. Taillon chose not to, trying to avoid injury and stay on routine, and Martin sat out because of an insurance issue. Pirates prospect Eric Wood, from Oshawa, Ontario, played for Team Canada, however, and he got a nice ovation before he singled in the ninth inning Friday. Martin has now played in Montreal for the Blue Jays’ exhibition series three years in a row.

“No matter where in the country, if people are talking baseball, it’s pretty cool to me,” Martin said Friday in a pregame news conference in which he answered in French and English equally. “People seem like they’re amped for the games. They come ready to cheer. People are passionate for their sports in Montreal and in Canada. When we’re playing the game, and you can feel that emotion through the fans, it makes for a better ballgame. Guys play harder.”

Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbit