BY: ED CONDRAN

Tears were understandably shed when the Montreal Expos played their final home game in September of 2004. The city was screwed by fiendish Expos owner Jeffrey Loria and the MLB wasn’t very helpful either. Perhaps the Expos would have flourished if they received a ballpark in downtown Montreal. Who knows?

Diehard Expos fans wept as the team left town after aptly enough losing to Loria’s Marlins, who he bought after he sold Youppi and friends down the Lawrence river. Loria and the Marlins have a brand new pleasure palace in South Florida. So much for karma.

However, there has been no reason to cry over the dear departed Expos, which became the Washington Nationals in 2005, well, up until now.

The Nats were hapless for seven seasons. However, that’s changing since the team has deep pockets and a number of its high draft picks are panning out.

Stephen Strasburg and Ryan Zimmerman are gifted players, who have helped the team, which leads the competitive NL East, turn the corner. However, the face of the franchise for many years has arrived. Bryce Harper, who plays like he’s the reincarnation of Mickey Mantle, was called up two weeks into the season.

It might sound like hyperbole but the 19-year-old phenom is arguably the best teenager baseball has seen in a generation.

Harper, who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16, has undeniably mad skills. He is a five-tool athlete with a determination (the sixth tool?) that sets him apart from most of his peers.

Perhaps the only knock against him is that he was incredibly cocky during his brief stay in the minors.

After blasting a home run last season in AA, Harper blew a kiss to the pitcher. “Nobody does that,” a National League scout said. “If you do something like that, you’ll pay for it eventually. Unless that kid changes, he will be hated.”

Before the Phillies' Cole Hamels welcomed Harper to the show by drilling him with a fastball in the back one-month ago, the reigning NL East champs were throwing verbal darts at the Nationals rookie sensation.

"Golden boy is up,” Shane Victorino said while a Nationals game was broadcast in late April in the Phillies clubhouse. The Phillies fleet centerfielder was goofing on Harper, who was stepping to the plate for the first time.

“What is he, 3 for 2?” Phillies ace Cliff Lee cracked. Victorino turned off the television while Harper was swinging at a pitch.

Harper was wearing a bull’s eye on the back of his jersey before Hamels welcomed him to the big leagues in Cole’s “old school” way.

The future of the Nationals, who normally only speaks to a group of reporters, laughed heartily when informed of Lee’s joke.

“It’s unbelievable playing against guys you grew up watching,” Harper said during an exclusive chat. “You see guys like Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Chase Utley and it’s like, ‘Wow, I’m really up here playing with these guys.’ I just try to take everything in stride and take one day a time.”

Harper isn’t just impressive on the diamond. The Washington Nationals rookie phenom is also a star in the classroom. Apparently Harper aced his media relations’ session. He’s saying all the right things and using clichés like he sports eye-black.

He predictably downplayed his late May rematch versus Hamels, who beaned Harper but more significantly admitted that he hit the fresh-faced kid on purpose.

“I’ve put that all behind me, definitely,” Harper said. “Hamels is a great pitcher. He’s an All-Star. He does everything right. He’s a bulldog. You just try to go out there and get a ‘W’ and not worry about anything around you. He’s an All-Star, who is a very talented. He’s an outstanding pitcher.”

Apparently we’ll never know what Harper really thinks. But the Phillies animosity is perhaps driven by Harper’s perceived lack of respect for the game.

“Bryce is going to be a target for awhile, not just in Philadelphia but everywhere in baseball,” former Phillies closer and Nats reliever Brad Lidge said. “But from what I’ve seen, he has a good head on his shoulders on the field and in the clubhouse. I can’t say anything bad about the guy. Everyone in the world is watching his every move and he’s only 19. I couldn’t handle that at 19. Bryce is an amazing player. You see what he does out there?”

After impressing with a big hit during his Canadian debut against the Blue Jays, a reporter asked Harper, if he was up for a celebratory beer since he is of age in Canada.     

"That's a clown question, bro," Harper said while dismissing the query. He ought to know since it's been a media circus ever since the 'next Mantle' was called up.

Clowning around aside, you can’t miss how special Harper is at such a young age. But it’s more than the numbers with Harper. It’s how he plays the game. He attacks with ferocity and an understanding, which belies his age. If Harper posts the sort of stats he’s capable of and plays with the maturity and intensity he has exhibited, he’ll be hated for another reason, for being the best player in the game, which will be the way he’s described within three seasons. That's when those who miss the Expos will really feel it.