Practically Inevitable

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Tom Glavine has re-signed with the Braves--another one-year contract. Did anyone out there really think he was going to sign with the Nationals?

I am not one of the Tom Glavine haters. He gave the Mets the best he had to offer for five years, and if it wasn't always very good, whose is? He pitched a couple of memorable clunkers, most notably his last start for the Mets--no need to go into that one too deeply. And if he wasn't "devastated" at the loss, preferring to save such a term for a greater disaster than a baseball game … well, he was right. It might not have been particularly politic for him to have made that admission so quickly, given the intensity of the moment and the fans' disappointment … but he was right.

In Tom's defense, he didn't always lose. In his five years with the Mets, he averaged more than 200 innings a year, with an ERA less than 4.00. Who wouldn't want that now? His last two years with the Mets, he went 15-7 and 13-8. He recorded his 300th career victory for New York. And if he wants to finish his career with Atlanta, where he has spent seventeen(!) seasons, more power to him. It's home to him.

While history will remember Tom as a stalwart member of the Hated Braves, he's still a Met to me. He always behaved with dignity and class, and he won more games for the Mets in the decade of the 2000s than anyone except Al Leiter and one other pitcher.

***TRIVIA QUIZ ALERT***

Who is the pitcher who won more games for the Mets this decade than anyone else? There will be an actual prize awarded, worth possibly 25 cents, to the first person to email me with the correct answer.

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***TRIVIA ANSWER***

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Congratulations go out to Jay from Elmira, who correctly identified Steve Trachsel as the winningest Met pitcher of the 2000s. Didn't see that one coming, did you?