It took Alex Rodriguez eight games to hit his 500th home run. It took Barry Bonds six games to hit his 755th. By that measure Tom Glavine's one start between wins 299 and 300 was nothing to cry about but there was a difference. Neither A-Rod nor Bonds had to rely on the likes of Guillermo Mota and Pedro Feliciano to assure them of their spot in history. Glavine did and it cost him in his first try at 300 and almost did again last night.
Glavine left after six and a third innings with a runner on second, one out and a 5-1 lead. After Mota and Feliciano did their business it was a 5-3 lead and Glavine had to be wondering if his relievers were on his side or not. His lineup left no such doubts, though. Carlos Delgado drove in runs in the eighth and ninth, Paul Lo Duca added another RBI and Billy Wagner pitched a scoreless ninth to make Glavine the fifth lefty in history to win the magic 300 games. It was the capping milestone in a big weekend for baseball, a day late for a trifecta of historical highlights maybe but just in time to start a new week with only Barry's quest for 756 in the hands of the baseball gods.
Glavine's win overshadowed the return of Kerry Wood to the major leagues. There's a nice bit of asymmetry there. When Glavine broke in with Atlanta in 1987 there couldn't have been many predicting that the finesse reliant southpaw who picked baseball over hockey would become one of the greatest pitchers that ever nibbled the corners of the plate. When Wood struck out 20 Astros in his fifth big league start, however, people were predicting the second coming of Roger Clemens, Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan rolled into one. But the injuries that Glavine's avoided all hit Wood instead. 71 wins and numerous surgeries later, Wood's a middle reliever happy to throw a scoreless inning and we all get a lesson in just how hard it is to win 300 major league games.
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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