Glavine: The Mets’ ace this post season?
As the Mets started confronting life without Pedro MartÃnez and Orlando Hernández, a 290-game winner lurked in the background. Tom Glavine is not the type to remind people of his pedigree or his impeccable résumé. But he understands the burden placed upon him. He, not MartÃnez, is now expected to be the big-game pitcher.
Glavine pitched like an ace last night, throwing six scoreless innings, as the Mets defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-1, before an announced crowd of 57,029 at Shea Stadium. The Mets took a 2-0 lead in their division series, and now one victory stands between them and the National League Championship Series. Before they flew to Los Angeles to prepare for tomorrow’s Game 3, in which Steve Trachsel will start, the Mets resembled a team possessed, one that let the magnitude of the postseason propel it into another gear last night.
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For Glavine, his masterly performance was a step toward redeeming himself for a horrific 2002 postseason, when he went 0-2 with a 15.26 earned run average in the Braves’ division series loss to San Francisco. He had not pitched in the playoffs since then, and he said that he had been waiting for that next chance ever since he signed a four-year deal with the Mets before the 2003 season.As poised as he was last night, Glavine was a nervous wreck while driving to Shea yesterday afternoon from Connecticut with his frequent passenger, Billy Wagner.
“It was calming to see a veteran so excited,� Wagner said. “I was like, ‘Hey buddy, you ready?’ and he’s like, ‘I’m so dang nervous.’ It made me feel good that I wasn’t the only one ready to puke.�
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