Glavine, Mets’ Backups Edge Florida
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Tom Glavine pitched eight sharp innings and the newly crowned NL East champion New York Mets, fielding a makeshift lineup in a game that mattered little to them, rallied to beat the fading Florida Marlins 3–2 last night.
Lastings Milledge and Michael Tucker hit RBI singles in the eighth that gave Glavine (14–6) his 289th career victory.
The Marlins’ fourth straight loss was a damaging one — they began the day 4.5 games behind San Diego in the wild-card race.
The Mets’ lineup did not include anyone who started Monday night’s clincher, and it had six guys hitting under .210. Julio Franco made his first start at third base since 1982, while Tucker played first base and broke in Carlos Delgado’s backup mitt.
Glavine, however, shined in what essentially was a tuneup for the playoffs in two weeks. He went eight innings for the first time since April 19, limiting the Marlins to four hits. Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 39th save.
Marlins rookie Scott Olsen shut down the Mets on five hits for seven innings and left with a 2–1 lead. But New York rallied in the eighth against Chris Resop (1–2) on a single by Anderson Hernandez, a walk to Endy Chavez and Milledge’s tying single.
