ESPN.com - MLB - Recap - Expos at Braves - 07/02/2002

You win by the slam, you lose by the slam. Fernando Tatis changed a 2-1 Braves lead to a 5-2 Expo lead with one swing of the bat in the sixth inning last night, and that was the final score. The Braves got two early runs but were pretty much stifled by Bartolo Colon last night. Bobby was apparently trying to nurse Damian Moss through trouble in that fifth inning, but it backfired, and all the Expos' runs scored in that frame. Moss was clearly laboring, and most of the time if you try to get your pitcher through something like that with a lead to save the pen, what you usually wind up with is no lead and having to go to the pen anyway. Bobby did manage to get another inning out of Damian, but at what cost?

I should probably mention that Andruw Jones won the fan balloting for the 30th and last spot on the All-Star team, joining Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. I probably should have mentioned them making the team, too, I guess. I just wasn't that interested. Sorry. Frankly, all of them, Andruw in particular, could use the rest. Yes, it's an honor, but Andruw gets tired in the second half already. I don't have career splits, but from 1999-2001, he hit .286/.359/.516 before the break, .267/.334/.472 after.

The Braves have one more game with the Expos, then host the Cubs for four leading into the break. This last game is big because it's a two-game swing either way against the second-place team. But if you're one of those who believes the psychological aspects of the pennant race are big, you don't want to give the Expos hope.