Tom Glavine "got the job done" last night. What that expression means, to me anyway, is that he pitched rather poorly but was bailed out by one of the following:
a) Great defense b) His status as a clutch pitcher c) Dumb luck
If you watched any of the game last night you know it wasn't (a). The Mets had one of their worst games in the field all year, making errors and booting balls left-and-right.
Along with Harry Potter and the last shreds of Tom Cruise's credibility, (b) is a figment of your imagination. Clutch pitchers do not exist. Great pitchers pitch well in clutch situations, just as they do in regular situations. Tom Glavine, at this point in his career, doesn't really pitch well in any situation, and last night was no exception.
So that just leaves (c). Despite allowing twelve baserunners in 5.2 innings, Glavine managed to keep all but three of them from reaching home, though Aaron Heilman helped out just a bit. Basically, Glavine got lucky. His good fortune continued as the Mets pushed five runs of their own across the plate against Livan Hernandez, and Glavine inched one win closer to 300.
Not that I'm complaining. They say that it's better to be lucky than good, though it usually takes a lot of both to be successful in the big leagues. The Mets will need a lot more of the former if they want to climb out of the NL East cellar.
Amazin' Avenue Daily Web Links
- MetsGeek.com: Midseason Manifesto, Position of Strength (Michael Oliver)
- MetsGeek.com: Midseason Manifesto, 2005 is Gravy (Michael Oliver)
- Mets.com: Castro To Net More Starts
- NY Times: Heilman's Future Is Now, But As What?
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