ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Braves at Expos – 07/13/2002

Oh, well. Can’t win them all. Tom Glavine gave up two runs in the first, settled down, then fell apart in the fifth. He gave up three homers in the inning, the first time that’s happened in his career. They were all solo shots, but it was enough. He’s having some “feel” problems with the ball, I think; he doesn’t seem to actually be throwing any worse, but the ball isn’t going where he wants.

The Braves had tied it in the top of the inning, and I do want to talk about the two key plays that allowed that. First, they tried to get Lockhart at second on a Glavine sac bunt with nobody out. Then, Lockhart scored when Andres Galarraga tried to cut him down at the plate on a Matt Franco roller. The first was a mistake, and shows one of the hidden values of the sacrifice. Sometimes, a team gets greedy and tries to get the runner rather than the batter, and you get a baserunner as well as the advancement. Galarraga came into criticism for his play, but in that instance it was the right play. He was about 20 feet from first base and going in the other direction, and neither the second baseman or the pitcher was really in position to beat Franco. His best chance was at the plate and he made a throw that could have gotten the runner; it was high, but the catcher could have handled it. He didn’t, and Andres got the error.

Bartolo Colon, who has quickly become a Braves Killer, got out of that, getting the Joneses with the bases loaded, and pitched a complete game to bring the Expos a win. It would be easy to say that he’s been a godsend to Montreal, but they’re still ten and a half back. Without him, it might be fourteen and a half… Chipper did double earlier and homered later, and may be coming out of it. Andruw singled and walked, but really doesn’t seem to be.