Well, Tom, I AM devastated.

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"I'm not devastated. I'm dissapointed, but, devastation is for much greater things in life. You know, I'm dissapointed. Obviously it wasn't the way I wanted to pitch. Can't really say that there was a whole lot that I would do differently..." --Tom Glavine, after the worst statistical start of his 21-year Major League Career.

Watching Glavine yesterday, I got the feeling that he might not even care. Well there you have it. Not a whole lot that you would do differently? Really? How about not hitting a pitcher for the first time in your career? How about not throwing an inner temper tantrum when Joe West doesn't give you your ideal strike zone and readjusting your approach?

The whole Tom Glavine-Mets experiment seemed very lukewarm and iffy off the bat. The Met uniform always had the feeling of a Halloween costume on him. He was brought here to be the guy, and that was never something he was comfortable doing. He flourished along with Smoltz and Maddux, and really started being effective in New York upon the arrival of Pedro and the other big-name acquisitions.

Glavine is a Brave. He was always a Brave, and always will be a Brave. The next time we all see his wife, who seemed to be more important to the cameramen than the baseball game at #300, she will be smiling and teary-eyed while he unenthusiastically expresses humility for his HOF induction with a big scripted "A" on his head. He came here for money, couldn't perform until everyone around him got better, tried to go back to Atlanta but couldn't get enough money, and settled for returning to the Mets for one more year to secure his legacy with 300 wins, and more money. I'm not espousing any conspiracy theories here, I'm just saying that he never put the interests of the New York Mets baseball club very high on his priority list other than how it affected him. This was allegedly a "big game pitcher". Game 5 last year against the Cards? Yesterday? The last two weeks? He had no motivation to "bring it" whatsoever. He got 300. (After a month-long 299 circus) He was ready to retire, go back to Georgia, and maybe call games on TBS in a few years. Good riddance, Tom.

On a better note, David Wright, after continuing to perform on both sides of the ball in spite of the swoon that surrounded him, came out and took the hits. He expressed a real level of pain over what happened, accepted blame, and told it like it is. Right now the culture of this team has to go the way of David Wright. He has been steady on the field and mature and composed with the press. Put a "C" on his jersey. No matter what has happened, number 5's prime is still ahead of us.