Defeat the Empire

In all honesty, Tom Glavine hasn't lived up to the contract he signed in December 2002 in his tenure with the Mets. Even with last night's win, his thirtieth as a Met, he's just 30-38 since 2003.

There have been two stretches where Glavine's been worth his contract; the first three months of 2004, where at one point he was 7-3 with a 2.03 ERA, and over his last two months here in 2005. Since dropping to 4-7, 5.06 with a loss at Seattle on June 19th, Glavine has gone 6-3 and seen his ERA fall .96 to 4.10.

Glavine vesting his 2006 option isn't the nightmare it was just a few months ago. The sum would be large, in the vacinity of $9 million, but Glavine has found the fountain of youth and I don't think he's turning back. Tom may not be a Met at heart, and I question how much he has invested in the team's success, but there's another factor that keeps him motivated: his chase for 300 wins. Glavine now sits at 272, 28 short of the mark. With a strong finish this year and a decent year next year, Glavine can get within ten of the mark by the end of 2006 and conceiveably then return to Atlanta for 2007 as a 41-year-old to provide veteran guidance and win his 300th at midseason.

Suddenly...He's All Wright
Not unlike Tom Glavine, Jaret Wright was written off for dead earlier in the season. After starting four games, he went on the DL with torn scar tissue while sporting a 9.15 ERA, and was presumed lost for the year. But after months of rehabilitation, Wright is back and better than ever.

Wright went 7 strong innings last night against Toronto, and won his fourth game of the season. Allowing just 4 hits and striking out 5, the Yankee 7-0 victory placed them in a three-way tie for the AL Wild-Card lead.

The Yankees got more good news from the pitching front when Chien-Ming Wang threw in the bullpen successfully without pain before the game against Toronto. Wang threw all his pitches and impressed Joe Torre, who is subscribing to the thinking that Wang can return in September for the stretch run. Wang is 6-3 with a 3.89 in 2005.

Today's Schedule

Blue Jays (Towers, 10-9, 4.12) @ Yankees (Leiter, 6-10, 6.09), 7:05 PM

Red Sox (Wells, 9-6, 4.70) @ Royals (Grienke, 3-14, 6.02), 8:10 PM

Mets (Zambrano, 6-10, 4.24) @ Diamondbacks (Vargas, 7-6, 4.47), 9:40 PM

Other Notes

-The Yankees climbed to third in Sportsline's MLB Power Rankings, their highest since April. Boston remains in first place, and the Mets ascended one slot to no. 15. The rankings can be found here.

-Steve Trachsel was activated today and is headed to the bullpen, at least for a short period of time. The Mets brass is probably hoping Jae Seo fails soon so he can be placed in the pen and Trachsel can be inserted into the final spot in the rotation.