Inning after inning the Mets would find a way to get a runner on base against Tom Glavine; inning after inning, Glavine would find a way to pitch out of trouble.
Fastballs when they were looking for off-speed stuff, changeups when they were sitting on the heater. And when it was over, Glavine had pitched the kind of game that is a signature moment in a brilliant career. And the Braves stood on the doorstep of their fourth trip to the World Series in the ’90s.
Gerald Williams scored a run in the first inning on a pair of Met errors, and Glavine somehow made that stand up. With a rabid, vociferous and downright nasty crowd of 55,911 spewing venom with every pitch, he threw seven shutout innings at the Amazin’s, and Atlanta held on for a 1-0 win last night in Game 3 of the NLCS.
“It was a good ballgame for me, obviously. It’s one that I’m very pleased with and very proud of,” Smoltz said afterward. And I’m just happy that I was able to go out there and make the one run in the first inning stand up.”
The Mets did scratch out seven hits against Glavine, but they were all singles. A runner reached base against Glavine in every inning after the first, but never once did he crack and let a Brave cross the plate. In was, in large part, a microcosm of his season. It wasn’t easy, or pretty, or by any means painless. But, simply put, he got the job done.
“I had an off year; it was a struggle at times,” Glavine admitted. “But you keep plugging away.”
Glavine had his lowest win total (14) since the ’94 strike season. He was 3-7 over his first dozen starts, with a fat 5.00 ERA. But he scratched and clawed and fought his way back to .500 at 11-11, then won his last three games – two of them against the Mets – and continued his run through the playoffs. And last night, he found ways.
“The key for me was working ahead in the count, and I was able to locate my pitches,” Glavine said. “When I’m doing that, I’ve got a chance to pitch a good ballgame.”