Glavine will start opener against Braves
Considering how we hit against him last year, it should be a good chance to get the offense jump-started.
Notebook: Furcal played third in the Dominican and could do it in the majors, which really isn’t something we need to be concerned about. Gryboski’s arm is really bad (I mean, worse than usual) and he might need surgery.
I hear Andruw’s lost weight, but he’s still got that double chin. I should talk.
I have gotten so ambivalent about Glavine, I don’t even know why this is a story anymore. It’s great that we killed him last year, and I hope we do it again this year. It’s just that, well, he’s gone now and really isn’t such a great pitcher anymore. I don’t think it’s much of a testament to the Mets rotation that Glavine is the opening day starter.
Of course, now that I’ve said this, he’ll go 17-5 / 2.65.
Nah.
I’d actually love to see Glavine have an amazing season, while the Mets hit last place. I would also love to see Maddux have a great season, and then have the Cubs lose to us in the NLCS. I don’t care about any other former Braves, but I will always root for those two.
Glavine was always my favorite player when he was with the Braves, but after he left I defintely hoped he would get shelled every night out. After a year has passed, I think I’m over it and I too hope he has a good year while the Mets battle the Expos for fourth. He’s still 49 wins short of 300 (37 if you count post-season) so his small chance of making it goes to zero if he doesn’t have a revival this season.
Now Maddux I never really took to (I know you all are shocked) so I’ll have no problem rooting against him. Although I’ll be happy for him when he gets his 300th – as long as it’s not against us.
I don’t think you have to worry about Maddux winning his 300th game against the Braves. The Braves play them in the first weekend in April and don’t play them again until the final series of the season.
Maddux will have to be pretty awful or hurt to not win his 300th game by the end of the season.
Maddux will have to be pretty awful or hurt to not win his 300th game by the end of the season
Well, unlucky is also a possibility. It’s not unheard of to pitch pretty well and not rack up wins. Take Smoltz’s middle part of his career, for instance – in 1995 he had a 3.18 ERA in 192 innings, but won only 12 games. He managed a 3.19 mark in 186 innings in 1999 for only 11 wins.
However, your point on hurt is a good one – in both of those seasons Smoltzie managed only 29 starts, so for Maddux to do that he’d need to miss more games than he has in any non-strike season since 1987.
I guess it also depends on his support from the Cubs – Carlos Zambrano last year won 13 games in 32 starts and 214 innings for theCubs despite a 3.11 ERA. If Maddux gets that sort of bad luck with a higher ERA, that 11 wins might not be a lock.
Hey Mac,
Who is this Jose Capellan guy? Does he really have a chance to stick in our bullpen? http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/0204/28notes.html
100 mph WOW
thanks
james
Brad would know better than I, but I did just link to the story. The Braves are excited about Capellan, to be sure. Elbow surgery in 2001 and a bad recovery, but apparently the surgery boosted his fastball. That happens sometimes. He was only tied for 32d on the consensus list here this offseason, but he really came on after that. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone came out of nowhere to be a bullpen contributor.