Glavine On Brink Of 300th Career Win

After all these years, Tom Glavine is suddenly unsure what to expect the next time he steps on the mound. The milestone he's chasing might have something to do with it. <br/><br/>Glavine pitched six

Thursday, July 26th 2007, 7:58 am

By: News On 6

After all these years, Tom Glavine is suddenly unsure what to expect the next time he steps on the mound. The milestone he's chasing might have something to do with it.

Glavine pitched six innings to earn career win No. 299, and Paul Lo Duca drove in four runs to lead the Mets past the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 Wednesday night in New York.

The 41-year-old left-hander needed 10 wins coming into the year to reach the milestone. He expects plenty of phone calls and some work getting everyone to Milwaukee for his first chance at becoming the 23rd player to reach 300 wins.

``I think the preparation is easy,'' said Glavine, who is scheduled to pitch on Tuesday. ``It's just going out there and being in the moment that's probably the more difficult thing.''

Glavine (9-6) allowed three runs and eight hits, returning to form after a difficult outing at Los Angeles. The left-hander failed to make it out of the third inning in his previous start against the Dodgers after the Mets staked him to a 6-0 lead.

``Nice bounce back win for him,'' New York manager Willie Randolph said.

Aaron Heilman pitched two scoreless innings and Billy Wagner got three outs on his 36th birthday for his 23rd save. It also was career save No. 347, tying him with Randy Myers for seventh on the career list.

Jason Bay homered for the third time in two days and Freddy Sanchez had two hits for the punchless Pirates, who have lost six straight on the road and 10 of 11 overall. Left-hander Tom Gorzelanny (9-6) left in the third inning with shoulder stiffness but said he expects to make his next start.

``We are not going to take any chances,'' Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. ``He's been a durable guy. We'll see tomorrow. He's complaining of no pain of any kind, just stiffness.''

In other NL games, it was Philadelphia 7, Washington 5 in 14 innings; Houston 1, the Los Angeles Dodgers 0; Atlanta 2, San Francisco 1; Cincinnati 7, Milwaukee 3; the Chicago Cubs 7, St. Louis 1; Colorado 10, San Diego 2; and Arizona 7, Florida 0.

Marlon Anderson also had a sacrifice fly for New York, which has won five of six. Anderson was inserted into the lineup when All-Star center fielder Carlos Beltran strained an abdominal muscle during batting practice.

``The way I feel right now, I'm 100 percent sure that I'm not going to be able to play tomorrow,'' said Beltran, who got treatment on the injury during the game.

Glavine, who worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first, was cruising along until the fifth. Sanchez hit a one-out RBI double to get Pittsburgh on the board and one batter later Bay added his 16th homer. Xavier Nady followed with a double but Glavine got Ryan Doumit to ground out to end the inning.

Glavine hopes to replicate the performance next time he takes the mound.

``I guess once you get to that point where you feel like it's achievable, then yeah, you want it,'' he said of his 300th win. ``You want to do whatever you have to do to make it happen.''

Phillies 7, Nationals 5, 14 innings

At Philadelphia, Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer off Chris Booker (0-1) in the bottom of the 14th inning, after Jimmy Rollins hit a triple and scored on a throwing error by left fielder Ryan Church with two outs in the ninth to bail out Philadelphia's bullpen.

Clay Condrey (4-0) pitched three scoreless innings for the win.

Astros 1, Dodgers 0

At Houston, Carlos Lee hit a solo home run in the seventh inning off D.J. Houlton (0-2), giving the struggling Astros their second straight series victory.

Chad Qualls (6-3) allowed two hits and one run in one inning for the win, and Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save in eight chances.

Braves 2, Giants 1

At San Francisco, Rich Aurilia hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning and Noah Lowry (11-7) held Atlanta scoreless after allowing a run in the first as San Francisco got a rare win with Barry Bonds out of the lineup.

Pedro Feliz had two hits and an RBI and Aurilia's solo homer off Chuck James (8-8) gave the Giants a 2-1 lead in the sixth. Brad Hennessey pitched the ninth for his seventh save.

Reds 7, Brewers 3

At Cincinnati, Jeff Keppinger's bases-loaded double highlighted Cincinnati's two-out scoring spree and sent Jeff Suppan (8-9) to another early exit.

Kyle Lohse (6-12) took a shutout into the sixth, when Craig Counsell hit a solo homer with two outs and Bill Hall had an RBI single.

Cubs 7, Cardinals 1

At St. Louis, Ted Lilly (11-4) won his seventh straight decision and Cliff Floyd and Mike Fontenot both drove in two runs for Chicago.

Adam Wainwright (9-8) allowed six runs and nine hits in five innings. He had seven strikeouts, six in the first 10 batters he faced.

Rockies 10, Padres 2

At Denver, Matt Holliday tied a career-high with four hits, including a home run and two doubles, and Aaron Cook (7-6) pitched a complete game to lead Colorado.

Justin Germano (6-5) gave up six runs and seven hits in five innings.

Diamondbacks 7, Marlins 0

At Phoenix, Brandon Webb (9-8) threw seven shutout innings for his first win in nearly a month as Arizona won its fifth straight.

Scott Olsen (8-8) was one strike away from escaping the third inning but instead saw six straight Diamondbacks reach base as Arizona scored five runs.