Monday, August 6, 2007

Glavine Joins 300 Club


It has been a historic weekend for baseball. Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, and Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs. Yesterday, Tom Glavine could get a milestone of his own, as he was going for his 300 career win.

Glavine looked flawless as he pitched 6.1 innings, and gave up 2 earned runs. But even with the Chicago Cubs scoring, the game was never in doubt for the Mets from the get-go. They scored 5 runs through the 1st 6 innings, and extended their lead after Glavine left to 8-3. All Glavine needed for the win was a good inning by closer Billy Wagner. Wagner shut down the Cubs to seal the 300th win for Glavine.

After the game, the Mets swarmed Glavine, and when he was able to escape the mob of players, he was swarmed by a mod of media. "I think the feeling right now is probably relief. At some point in time, I don't know when, the historic side of it will sink in. I know the company I'm in, and I'm as proud as can be to be in that company."

He is the 23rd pitcher and 5th lefty in MLB history to win 300 games, and may be the last pitcher to do so. The fact that no pitcher had 20 wins last year signals the end of an era. Pitchers will be going up against the best batch of hitters that the MLB has ever seen, so being dominant on the mound will not be so easy. Randy Johnson is closest to 300 at 284, but back surgery threatens to end his career.

If this is the last time that we see a 300 win pitcher, than I think we should really enjoy what we saw yesterday. And there is something that is for sure. Cy Young's 511 wins is a record that will never be broken.

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