Glavine, Mets in command

NEW YORK -- It's a long walk from the visitors' clubhouse in Shea Stadium to the old football dressing room being used as an interview room during these National League division playoffs. It's a journey Grady Little silently made alone, the Dodgers' PR man a couple of steps ahead of him, eyes straight ahead as he passed the smiling cops, the excited vendors, the happy members of the winners' families, and finally past the clubhouse of the victorious home team, another New York club poised to ruin another October for Little.

``I think that we're in a tight spot, you know," Little said with a forced chuckle when he finally arrived at his destination in the aftermath of the Dodgers' 4-1 loss to Tom Glavine and the Mets, one that gave the Mets a 2-0 series lead and placed the Dodgers on the brink of elimination in this best-of-five series. ``That pretty much sums it up.

``We've been there before this year where we've had games we've had to win and we were able to get the job done," Little said. ``So we're in that spot again."

Regardless of whether the Dodgers can summon another comeback when they return to Dodger Stadium, where they will throw four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux at the Mets tomorrow afternoon, they most likely will have to do so without Nomar Garciaparra, who aggravated a strained quadriceps muscle while beating out an infield hit in the fourth and was gone two innings later after batting in the sixth and barely jogging down the line.

``It's the same injury he's been operating with for the last two or three weeks," Little said. ``He's trying to get through it, and it's very difficult. But we'll check him again tomorrow and see how he is."

And whatever magic Maddux might muster tomorrow, it's hard to imagine he can offer more than the Mets got last night from Glavine, or ``Big Game Tommy," as Mets manager Willie Randolph called him as they passed each other in the interview room.

Glavine, who only two months ago was frightened while doctors tried to determine the cause of blood clots that left him with numbness in his ring finger (scar tissue around an old shoulder injury was the culprit), said he surprised himself by how relaxed he was when he took the mound and went six scoreless innings, allowing just four hits. He also did his part at the plate, a swinging bunt and regulation sacrifice both leading to runs.

The Dodgers, who self-destructed on the base paths in their Game 1 defeat, misplayed another sacrifice, this one by Jose Valentin in the sixth inning, when the Mets tacked on two more runs, the oldest Met, 48-year-old Julio Franco, beating out a double-play relay as one run scored and the youngest Met, 23-year-old Jose Reyes, singling home another.

``I think honestly, tonight was probably the most relaxed I've been all year long," said Glavine, a 290-game winner who outdueled a 26-year-old rookie from Taiwan, Hong-Chih Kuo, who began the night with one big league win to his name. ``I don't know why. I was pretty anxious about it all day long, anxious driving in today with Wags [closer Billy Wagner]. For some reason, once I got to the ballpark and got in the clubhouse, everything just kind of fell into place."

Glavine acknowledged he didn't expect he would have to wait this long to return to the postseason, his first in four years with the Mets and coincidentally the first time in 15 years that his former team, the Braves, are not playing in October.

Glavine's final three postseason appearances for the Braves were anything but enjoyable -- he lost all three of his starts, one to the Diamondbacks and two to the Giants, those teams combining to saddle him with a 9.95 ERA on 22 hits and 10 walks in just 12 2/3 innings. And it wasn't until this, his fourth season with the Mets, that Glavine finished with a winning record (15-7, 3.82 ERA), which had called into question whether he would become the fifth lefthander in baseball history to win 300 games.

``This means a lot to me, you know," Glavine said of living up to the sobriquet. `` I think it's a lot less about what I have or haven't done in my career in the postseason and much more about now.

``Obviously, like I said, this is the opportunity that I wanted to have in New York, and I'm no different than anybody else: I want to do well. I have a lot of pride in trying to go out there and do well."

Glavine turns 41 in March, which chronologically places him squarely among the four Hall of Fame lefthanders who rank ahead of him. Warren Spahn, his father Fred's favorite player when he pitched for the Boston Braves, was 44 when he retired with 363 wins. Steve Carlton was 43 when he finished with 329. Eddie Plank, who won 326 games, was three weeks short of his 42d birthday when he called it a career, and Lefty Grove was 41 when he won his 300th and last game, for the Red Sox, in 1941.

Glavine is not yet signed for 2007, but there is no doubt he will return to the Mets, with whom he struck a Foulkian bargain -- the club holds a $14 million option for next season (Glavine tacked on an additional $2 million by pitching 198 innings this season) with a $3 million buyout, while Glavine holds a $7.5 million player option, with the possibility of an additional $2 million added if he becomes an All-Star for the 11th time next season. Those are the kinds of contract terms you'd expect from an experienced union negotiator. Like Red Sox second baseman Mark Loretta, Glavine is among the most active players in union matters.

With Orlando Hernandez out of the playoffs after tearing a calf muscle, and Pedro Martínez undergoing surgery yesterday to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder, Glavine carries the burden of the pitcher the Mets are counting upon, though the pressure on him in this series was eased significantly when the Mets held on for a 6-5 win over the Dodgers in Game 1.

If he pitches as he did last night, the Mets will be in good hands. ``Glavine was unbelievable tonight," said Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal.