Milestone at Wrigley?
On Sunday night, Tom Glavine will go for a historic win in one of the majors’ vintage ballparks.
Glavine will make his second attempt to become the 23rd pitcher in major league history with 300 wins as the New York Mets (62-48) wrap up their weekend series with the Chicago Cubs (58-51) at Wrigley Field.
"Somebody’s got to do it sooner or later and hopefully it will be me," said Glavine (9-6, 4.38 ERA), who’s trying to become the first 300-game winner since longtime Braves teammate Greg Maddux in 2004. "It’s an extremely historic ballpark. … Not too many places I think you could pick that would be a better venue. But wait and see how it works out."
With his next win, Glavine also will tie Lefty Grove and Early Wynn for 21st on the all-time list.
"I don’t think there is much anxiousness as I had probably going into the Milwaukee start," Glavine said.
The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner had perhaps his best road start this year his last time out, allowing a run and two hits in six-plus innings on Tuesday night. New York’s bullpen, though, couldn’t hold a one-run lead and allowed the Brewers to rally for a 4-2 win in 13 innings.
"I don’t know if it’s easier to have it go away right away, or when you’ve got to sit there and watch," said Glavine, who’s 0-4 with an 8.66 ERA in his last seven road starts.
Glavine has struggled at Wrigley Field for more than a decade, going 1-4 with a 4.85 ERA in his last seven starts dating to August 1996 when he was with Atlanta. Overall, the left-hander is 14-13 with a 3.64 ERA in 34 career starts against the Cubs.
Oddsmakers from Sportsbook.com have made Chicago -107 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for today’s game, the over/under has been set at 9.5 total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 75% of bets for this game have been placed on New York -101 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
"I don’t want him to get 300 against us," said Cubs outfielder Cliff Floyd, a teammate of Glavine’s with the Mets from 2003-06. "And he knows that, he’s competitive. … He’s a great dude."
While Glavine goes for the milestone win, Jason Marquis (8-6, 4.22) will try to win his third straight home start for Chicago. Facing Philadelphia on Tuesday, the right-hander gave up three runs and eight hits over six innings as the Cubs rolled to a 7-3 win.
Marquis downplayed the win as Chicago keeps its sights set on reaching the postseason.
"Your goal is to be in first place on Sept. 30," Marquis told the Cubs’ official Web site. "You have to focus on what the Chicago Cubs have to do and you can’t pay attention to what Milwaukee is doing or the teams in the wild card we’re chasing. You have to worry about the Chicago Cubs, and if we win, everything will take care of itself."
Chicago is 10-2 at Wrigley Field this season in games Marquis has started. In 12 career starts versus New York, Marquis is 5-4 with a 4.15 ERA.
Marquis and Glavine squared off on May 14 at Shea Stadium, but neither recorded a decision as the Mets won 5-4 on Michael Wuertz’s bases-loaded walk to Carlos Delgado in the bottom of the ninth.
New York and Chicago split the first two games of this series. After the Mets posted a 6-2 win in the opener on Friday, Chicago was victorious by the same score on Saturday. Ryan Theriot’s two-out, run-scoring infield single off John Maine started a six-run third inning.
"You see good teams do that with two-outs," Theriot said. "They come back and score a bunch of runs, whether it be hits or walks, whatever it may be, knowing you have that one out left and you still go out there and put runs on the board. It’s always important."
Despite the win, the Cubs remained one game behind the Brewers in the NL Central when Milwaukee rallied to defeat Philadelphia later on Saturday.
Former Cub Moises Alou, who had two homers coming in, hit two for the Mets as they fell to 20-9 this season against NL Central opponents.
by: Michael Cash – thespread.com – Email Us
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