Mets clip Cubs as Glavine reaches milestone
Chicago, IL - Tom Glavine made good in his second run at history on Sunday, notching his 300th career victory in the Mets’ 8-3 win over the Chicago Cubs at historic Wrigley Field.
Glavine (10-6) was charged with two runs on six hits with one walk and one strikeout over 6 1/3 innings, becoming just the 23rd pitcher in major league history to reach the illustrious plateau. He was given a standing ovation by the capacity crowd as he walked off the field to end the sixth, and again when he departed for the final time in the seventh.
Glavine also reached the coveted mark five nights after the bullpen flushed his bid for a hard-earned victory against Milwaukee at Miller Park. The Brewers rallied against the New York bullpen on Tuesday after Glavine had left the contest with his team holding the lead.
Glavine’s wife Christine and the couple’s four children were in attendance at Wrigley, sitting just a few rows off the field near the Mets’ dugout. Along for the trip were his parents, brothers, sisters, and other family and friends, who piled onto the field and embraced Glavine when the game ended.
“Now that its over there’s that sense of relief,” said Glavine. “There’s a sense of accomplishment, and I think for the most part the emotion I have is relief. I think at some point in time, I don’t know when, the historic side of it will sink in.”
Carlos Delgado doubled twice and knocked in four runs and Luis Castillo had four hits and scored two runs for the NL East-leading Mets, who have won four of their last five games. Castillo, however, left the game in the eighth inning suffering from heat exhaustion.
Jason Marquis (8-7) was saddled with the loss after giving up five runs and nine hits over 5 1/3 innings for Chicago, which has dropped three of four and sits a game behind Milwaukee in the Central.
The contest also marked the return of Cubs right-hander Kerry Wood, who was activated from the 60-day disabled list on Friday and made his first appearance of the season in tossing a scoreless seventh.
Wood’s return may have been good news for the Cubs, but the bigger concern for the club was the loss of All-Star outfielder Alfonso Soriano, who suffered a right quad strain running the bases in the third inning.
It was Glavine who helped his own cause in the second, lining a base hit up the middle that gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. The two-out rally started with a walk to Lastings Milledge, who stole second before Glavine slapped a 1-0 pitch back up the middle, where it was fielded and dropped by Cubs centerfielder Angel Pagan.
Chicago tried to answer with a two-out rally in the third, as Soriano poked a base hit to left. Ryan Theriot followed with a ground ball to center, and attempting to reach third, Soriano pulled up lame halfway to the bag. He was tagged out by Mets third baseman David Wright and had to be assisted off the field by the team trainer.
New York added two more in the fifth to give Glavine some breathing room. Castillo ripped a leadoff single, then raced to second on Wright’s fly ball to the warning track in center. Delgado’s double into the right-field corner plated Castillo, and following a wild pitch by Marquis, Shawn Green lofted a fly ball over Mark DeRosa’s head in right to give New York a 3-0 lead.
The hit parade continued in the sixth, as Milledge opened the frame by lacing a double down the line in left. Glavine grounded out, moving Milledge to third before he scored on a single by Jose Reyes.
Scott Eyre came in to replace Marquis and allowed a hit to Castillo before intentionally walking Wright. A ground out by Delgado then scored Reyes to make it 5-0.
The Cubs cut it to 5-1 in the sixth on an RBI double by Aramis Ramirez, then chased Glavine for good in the seventh after Pagan belted a one-out double to left. Guillermo Mota came on and allowed a single to Jason Kendall before Pedro Feliciano yielded two more runs on an RBI ground out by pinch-hitter Jacque Jones and a run-scoring double by Mike Fontenot.
New York put the game away in the eighth against Will Ohman, as Delgado doubled home a run for the second time and Paul Lo Duca chipped in with an RBI single.
Reyes tripled and scored on a sac fly by Delgado in the ninth, and Billy Wagner recorded the final three outs to start the celebration for Glavine.
With Glavine’s quest for No. 300 now in the books, a milestone weekend for Major League Baseball also came to a close. On Saturday afternoon New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez belted his 500th career home run. San Francisco’s Barry Bonds then tied one of the most coveted records in sports Saturday night, belting his 755th career homer, equaling the all-time mark set by Hank Aaron.
“You try not to get ahead of yourself, not to talk too much about today before you get here,” Glavine added. “That was a delicate balancing act tonight. You try not to get too far ahead of yourself regardless of what the score is. With two outs and Billy on the mound, I guess I felt pretty good about this thing finally being over.”
“I’ve been in this spot so many times. Ultimately, you just trust the work you put in and the preparation you put in.”
Game Notes
Glavine, who won his first game with the Atlanta Braves on August 22, 1987, is just the fifth left-hander in the majors to win 300 games…Wood is expected to be used primarily out of the bullpen for Chicago…The Mets have won five of seven this season from the Cubs and are 12-7 in the series since the since the start of the 2005 campaign…The game was delayed in the bottom of the eighth when home plate umpire Marty Foster was hit with a foul ball and briefly lost vision in his left eye…Attendance was 41,599.
