Glavine proves once more he's still an ace

Barry M. Bloom at Mets.com, writes about Tom Glavine and how he is still playing like an ace:

"This man is the man," Randolph said about the 40-year-old left-hander and veteran of 10 postseasons, the first nine with the Braves.

Glavine was certainly the man in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, spinning seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball in his club's 2-0 victory over the Cardinals that gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series that continues on Friday night at Shea Stadium.

Considering that the Mets' starting rotation is short Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez, a big start from Glavine was critical to New York's chances of going to the World Series for the first time since 2000 and the fifth time in franchise history.

"I understand the importance of when I pitch now," said Glavine, who at 290 regular-season victories is only 10 wins shy of the 300-win mark. "But at the same time, I'm trying my best to mentally play games with myself and dismiss that. I don't want to go out there with any added pressure than there already is.

"And so, the best thing for me to do is to understand that, when I pitch, it's an important game. But it's an important game when everybody pitches. I just want to do my best to give us a chance to win, and so far in this postseason, I've been able to do that."