SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Fans were so excited to get close to major leaguers, one of them actually tumbled onto the field during batting practice before Montreal played the first of its 22 home games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium.

The boy, who appeared to be about 10, was wearing a black Mets T-shirt with Roberto Alomar’s name on the back and was clutching a baseball. Alomar and Rey Sanchez, among the three dozen Puerto Rican players in the big leaguers, were signing autographs Friday near the New York Mets’ bench, and fans scampered onto the dugout roof. The boy didn’t appear to be injured.

Alomar, the biggest star for the locals, was given the biggest ovation during pregame introductions and had to bow twice to the fans before the Mets’ 10-0 loss to the Expos.

“It’s such an honor to be able to play in my country,” Alomar said during batting practice. “To have my mom come to the game today and watch me play, that’s a dream come true.”

The Expos, like the Ruppert Mundys in “The Great American Novel,” are a bit of a homeless team this season, forced to play more than a quarter of their 81 “home” games away from Montreal’s Olympic Stadium because of poor attendance. The Expos, bought by the other 29 teams before the 2002 season, appear likely to wind up in Washington or Portland, Ore.

For now, they must cope with a schedule that doesn’t have them play in Montreal until April 22. Even then, “home” might seem a little cold. With the team wandering North America, most won’t have their wives, children and girlfriends along.

“I don’t see too many people bringing the families in for just six ballgames,” Expos manager Frank Robinson said.

His team – Les Expos in Montreal, Los Expos in San Juan – is used to dealing with adversity as the ownerless orphan of the major leagues. The order came from the commissioner’s office to cut payroll, and 20-game winner Bartolo Colon was dealt to the Chicago White Sox.

While Los Expos had 14 players on their opening roster from outside the 50 states, the most in the majors, it remained to be seen if the Puerto Rican fans would embrace the franchise, or just the Latin American players. Since the days of Roberto Clemente, this island has been home to many major leaguers.

The 22 home games away from home are unprecedented, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, baseball’s statistician. The Brooklyn Dodgers played seven games in Newark, N.J., in both 1956 and 1957, and the previous high was set by the White Sox, who played nine games in Milwaukee in 1968 and 11 the following year.

The White Sox bridged the gap between the Braves, who had moved to Atlanta, and the Brewers, who arrived in 1970.

Will this move lead to a permanent team in San Juan? Tony Tavares, the Expos’ president, said the 22 games would be a litmus test, but that a 50,000- to 60,000-seat facility would be needed. Hiram Bithorn Stadium – named after the first Puerto Rican-born player in the major leagues – was spruced up with 5,000 bleacher seats added to raise capacity to about 20,000.

While the Expos’ caps had their traditional logo, there was an effort made to localize the team. Above the left ear of the caps, there were small patches with Puerto Rican flags and logos that read “Series de los Expos.” And the Puerto Rican anthem was sung between “O Canada” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

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The Montreal Expos warmed to Puerto Rico real fast.

Brad Wilkerson and Brian Schneider homered off David Cone, and Tomo Ohka allowed one hit in eight innings as Los Expos rolled past the New York Mets 10-0.

Schneider put the Expos ahead with a two-run shot in the third, and Wilkerson capped the seven-run inning with his first career grand slam. Local star Jose Vidro added a two-run homer off Graeme Lloyd in the eighth.

Cliff Floyd had a broken-bat single in the fourth inning and Roger Cedeno an infield single in the ninth for New York’s only hits.

Beisbol, island style, began with a crowd of 17,906 in Hiram Bithorn Stadium, which was expanded to 20,000 seats. It was larger than the attendance for all but eight Expos games last year at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, which holds 46,000.

Fans did the wave, chanted “Let’s go Mets!” several times and “Ole!”

They greeted their local stars – Roberto Alomar and Rey Sanchez of the Mets, and Vidro – with standing ovations.

There was thumping Latin music and dancers on the field during some breaks between innings, and one fan held up a sign that read “Puerto Rico’s Expos,” but once the game got going, major league beisbol was just the same as baseball.

And in a concession to the times, there were police sharpshooters in the bullpens.

Ohka (1-1) became the first Japanese pitcher to win a game in Puerto Rico – striking out seven and walking four. Scott Stewart worked the ninth.

It was 79 degrees at gametime and the Expos improved to 6-0 when the temperature is above 40 – they’re 0-4 when it’s below.

New York left its bats behind on the mainland, where they haven’t been very potent to begin with – the Mets have just 30 runs in 10 games, and have lost three straight and four of five.

Cone (1-1) beat Montreal on April 4 for his first victory since the 2001 season. On Friday, he got the ball up in the small dimensions of Bithorn – 398 to center, 315 to left and 313 to right – and lost for the first time since Oct. 1, 2001, for Boston at Tampa Bay.

Cone lasted four innings, allowing seven runs, eight hits and three walks, one intentional.

Montreal went ahead in the third when Schneider homered into the temporary bleachers added in right field. A single, double and intentional walk loaded the bases for Wil Cordero, who singled in a run.

Wilkerson nearly fouled out, but the ball dropped in the expansive foul territory. He then hit his first slam, sending the ball to the top of the right-field bleachers. Cone just turned to the plate, a disgusted look on his face.

Notes: 2B Alomar threw out Schneider from his back in the seventh after diving to stop a grounder in short right. … Prior to Friday, only seven regular-season major league games had been played outside the 50 states: a three-game series between the Mets and San Diego at Monterrey, Mexico, from Aug. 16-18, 1996, the 1999 opener between Colorado and San Diego in Monterrey, a two-game series between the Mets and Chicago Cubs in Tokyo that opened the 2000 season, and the 2001 opener between Texas and Toronto in San Juan.

AP-ES-04-11-03 2208EDT