LOS ANGELES – On a night when the game was blacked out in New York and Los Angeles, Tom Glavine facetiously made a pre-game boast that he was going to toss a no-hitter.
And Glavine was more than half-perfect last night, retiring the first 14 hitters in order. The 37-year-old southpaw had never thrown a no-no, and it would’ve been especially weird if the first one in Met history had occurred under such circumstances.
“No TV, no nothing,” Glavine joked again later. “That would be my luck. Nobody would get to see it.”
In the fifth, the veteran lefty lost the perfecto and the shutout. But he produced probably his most dominating performance as a Met on a night when Dodger righty Kevin Brown was nearly as great, allowing the Mets to secure a 2-1 victory.
“I would never intend to go out and throw a no-hitter,” said Glavine, who admitted it “crossed his mind” as his teammates made incredible plays behind him, including centerfielder Jeff Duncan’s spectacular backhanded sprawling catch on Fred McGriff to open the fifth.
Glavine (9-11) allowed just two hits and one earned run over seven innings and protected his one-run lead after the Dodgers spoiled his no-no bid. The Mets held fast to two unearned runs in the fourth against Brown (12-7), who leads the NL in ERA (2.15).
“It puts you in a playoff mentality,” Glavine said of opposing someone like Brown. “You try to win the game 1-0 or 2-1.”
The Mets (57-72) scored twice in the fourth when the Dodgers committed three errors, including two on one pivotal play. With one out and Jay Bell at first, Duncan topped a ball that Brown fielded and threw away. Bell scored fairly easily, and rightfielder Shawn Green threw home late and up the third-base line, putting Duncan at third.
Duncan scored the second run when Marco Scutaro stroked an RBI single to left and advanced to second on an error by lackadaisical Rickey Henderson.
With two outs in the fifth, Jolbert Cabrera hit the first pitch he saw from Glavine for a double off the bottom of the wall near right-center. Cesar Izturis drove in Cabrera on the next pitch with a triple down the right-field line.
Art Howe visited the mound with the No. 8 hitter, Alex Cora, coming up, and Cora was intentionally walked.
Glavine whiffed Brown on three outside sinkers to escape trouble and retired the next six men in order before leaving after 85 pitches. He said probably 60 of those were his patented sinkers.
The only reason Glavine yielded to Grant Roberts for the eighth was a “hot spot” on his index finger. Roberts worked the next 1 2/3 innings, and John Franco induced a ground out to third from Green for his second save.
The series finale before 45,496 at Dodger Stadium was blacked out because ESPN holds an exclusive broadcasting window during the 8 p.m. time slot. Howe conceded it was perhaps his team’s best defensive game of the season.
“We threw some leather tonight,” Howe said.