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Glavine and Mets trying to keep playoff hopes alive

Sep 30, 2007 - 2:23 PM Florida (70-91) at NY Mets (88-73) 1:10 pm EDT

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- A fight and a near no-hitter may have given the New York Mets the spark they need to avoid a historic collapse.

The Mets head into the final game of the season against the Florida Marlins on Sunday with a chance to wrap up the National League East Division as long as they get a little help.

Behind a stellar pitching performance by Maine, which included only one hit and a career-high 14 strikeouts, New York rolled to a 13-0 win on Saturday to pull even with the Philadelphia Phillies (88-73) in the NL East.

The Phillies dropped a 4-2 loss to the Washington Nationals in their only game atop the NL East to fall into the tie.

Should the Mets fail to win the NL East, they would become the first team in history to fail to win the pennant after holding a seven-game lead with 17 games to play.

New York is also one game behind the San Diego Padres (89-72) in the wild card.

Saturday's contest also had some fireworks, as Marlins catcher Miguel Olivo charged across the diamond in the fifth inning to go after the Mets' Jose Reyes, igniting a bench-clearing brawl.

Now, Tom Glavine (13-7, 4.14 ERA) makes one of the biggest starts of his career with the Mets, and perhaps the last.

Glavine, who is a free agent at the end of the season, is coming off a rough outing last time out, giving up six runs and nine hits over five innings in a 10-9 loss to the Nationals on Tuesday.

Glavine will be opposed by Dontrelle Willis (10-15, 5.20), who has had great success against New York. The lefthander is 11-3 with a 2.49 ERA in 18 starts against the Mets, but is just 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA in two starts vs. them this season.

If New York and Philadelphia finish tied for the division lead there will be a one-game playoff on Monday at Citizen's Bank Park.