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Glavine wins No. 291 with six strong innings

Apr 2, 2007 - 6:29 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Tom Glavine put a dimmer on the world champions' celebration and answered concerns about the New York Mets' starting rotation.

Glavine pitched six strong innings for his 291st career win and outdueled Chris Carpenter as the Mets posted a 6-1 victory over the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in the 2007 Major League Baseball season opener.

Carlos Delgado opened the scoring with a two-run double and Paul Lo Duca drove in three runs for New York, which tied for the most wins in the majors last season with 97 before falling to St. Louis in seven games in an exciting National League Championship Series.

The Cardinals went on to beat the Detroit Tigers in five games to win the World Series and they raised the banner just prior to gametime.

"It was a little bit of a disappointment that it wasn't us (raising the banner)," Glavine said. "It could have very easily been us ... Maybe it's the kind of thing that you watch and know that when the season is over for us, that's what we want to be doing."

With Mets star righthander Pedro Martinez out until after the All-Star with a rotator cuff injury, 40-year-olds Glavine and Orlando Hernandez will be counted on to lead a rotation that also includes second-year starter John Maine and unproven hurlers Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfrey.

"It was the same thing last year, question marks about pitching," Lo Duca said. "We were second or third in all of baseball, I really feel these guys are up to the challenge and are going to defy the skeptics, and I really think this team has more potential than we had last year. I think our pitching staff is going to be just fine."

Glavine (1-0) put to rest any concerns about his age finally catching up to him, yielding a run, six hits and a walk while striking out two to remain undefeated in his career when having a five-run lead.

"When I had to make some pitches I did," said Glavine who threw 50 of 89 pitches for strikes. "I was able to get some ground balls and some double plays when I needed them."

"I think he's better than ever," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "He's a handful."

Glavine also moved within nine wins of becoming the fifth lefthander all-time to reach 300 wins.

"It's nice company," Glavine said.

A two-time Cy Young Award winner, Glavine carried a shutout into the sixth inning until David Eckstein grounded a double into the left field corner, scoring Skip Schumaker.

Glavine received some defensive support on the next batter, when center fielder Carlos Beltran fielded a single by Preston Wilson and threw a strike to Lo Duca, who easily tagged out Eckstein at the plate to save another run.

"I was just running," Eckstein said. "They said (Beltran) threw an absolute b-b home. He's a great player and he showed it tonight."

"It was big, it cut the momentum," Glavine said. "It's the kind of thing that you never expect it but when you get it, it's a huge momentum swing. As it turned out, the way the inning progressed, it was a huge play."

With the Cardinals trailing, 5-1, in the eighth inning, Mets second baseman Jose Valentin made a great play with the bases loaded to end another threat.

After relievers Pedro Feliciano and rookie Joe Smith combined to load the bases with one out, righthander Aaron Heilman entered. Scott Rolen ripped a one-hopper towards center field, but Valentin made a diving stop to start an inning-ending double play.

"I just reacted and dived for it," Valentin said. "The ball was hit so hard I knew we had plenty of time for a double play, (second baseman) Jose Reyes has a great arm so you just have to get on your feet and throw the ball to him. It was a great play and changed the whole game, I think it was the play that saved the game."

Billy Wagner closed out the triumph with a scoreless ninth.

Delgado gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in the third inning with a double off the left field wall against Carpenter (0-1), who was tagged for five runs and nine hits in six frames.

"After the second inning the location on my fastball just wasn't very good," said Carpenter, who suffered his first loss in four career Opening Day starts. "I was trying to go in on those righthanders and leaving the ball in the middle of the plate. I wasn't getting ahead and I didn't make a pitch when I had to make a pitch, unfortunately this isn't the way I wanted to start."

In the following frame, Lo Duca dribbled a two-run single up the middle and Beltran grounded a base hit to center to push the edge to 5-0. Lo Duca capped the scoring with an eighth-inning RBI single.