Age and youth both win a league apart

Two pitchers in the New York Mets organization, one nearing the end of his playing career, the other nearing completion of his first full season, led their teams to victory yesterday with similar performances.

At Shea, Tom Glavine showed that at age 41 he's still "master of the mound." Even if he were 20 years younger he couldn't have pitched much better than he did in an afternoon game against the Astros. He had a perfect game for five innings and ended his day pitching seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball. Of his 86 pitches, 54 (63%) were strikes. It was his 22nd quality start in 30 starts (73%).

Aaron Heilman and Billy Wagner clinched the victory for Glavine, each pitching an inning of relief.

In Nashville, in the first round of the PCL playoffs, New Orleans starter Kevin Mulvey, age 22, pitched seven innings of shutout ball. He gave up four singles. And though he threw 88 pitches (57 were strikes), he didn't walk a batter.

Carlos Muniz, who was Mulvey's teammate at Double-A Binghamton for most of this season, pitched the final two innings. He did even batter, retiring all six batters he faced on three fly outs, a groundout, and a strikeout. Neither pitcher has yet to give up a run in Triple-A.

The Zephyrs victory clinched a spot for them in the second round of the PCL playoffs.

Though Glavine's name will likely be on the Mets roster for another year, at most, Mulvey's name should be on it for many years to come.

Lo Duca drives in seven, Niese wins one

In Cincinnati, New York Mets pitcher Oliver Perez forget to bring his control with him to Great American Ball Park. In five innings he gave up only four hits, but he walked five batters. He threw 90 pitches; only 52, or 58%, made it into the strike zone. If it weren't for the Mets hitters, the five runs that Perez gave up would have resulted in his 10th loss rather than his 13th win. One Met alone outscored the entire Reds team.

Paul Lo Duca must have thought the game was an extension of batting practice. In five at-bats he knocked in seven runs, six coming on two three-run homers. Before yesterday Lo Duca had only hit five home runs all season.

This afternoon, the Mets send John Maine to the mound in their try to sweep their second series in a row. Though Maine's won 14, he went 2-3 in August with a 6.32 ERA. He also walked more than twice as many batters as he did in any other month this season. If Maine can't reverse his recent run of poorer performances, the Mets could be in trouble when the play-offs roll around.

Another member of the Mets organization seems ready for the play-offs, which start for them tonight. The Mets' Triple-A affiliate, the New Orleans Zephyrs, won its regular season finale Monday night 6-2. It newest reliever, Carlos Muniz, a Double-A call-up, pitched two innings of one-hit, no-run ball for the Z's. Better still, in three outings with the Zephyrs, Muniz has pitched 5.2 innings without surrendering a run, earned or unearned. At 26, Muniz is a bit old to be considered a prospect, but he seems to have the "right stuff." In 44 games with the Binghamton Mets he had a 2.45 ERA.

And in the Florida State League play-offs, the St. Lucie Mets won their first game behind the one-hit pitching of Jon Niese. In his six innings, he struck out nine. During the regular season, Niese led St. Lucie with 11 wins, the third highest number in the FSL.

But there was bad news for Brooklyn. The Cyclones lost to their archrival, the Staten Island Yankees, 5-4. The Yankees scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth off loser Eddie Kunz, who's been finding pitching in Single-A much tougher than for the Oregon State Beavers. After walking two batters, the second intentionally, Kunz gave up a single to Jose Gil, which ended the game. Kunz's ERA is now 8.10. Did the Mets make a mistake making him their top draft choice?

Big night for the Big Club

Yesterday, a Single-A pitcher who hadn't lost did, a Double-A reliever saved his 22nd game, a Triple-A pitcher who had disappeared from the pitching scene reappeared, and a Big Club starter who got bombed in his first two innings calmed down and notched his tenth win.

Single-A: In Lowell, MA, Brooklyn starter Dillon Gee picked up his first defeat in the Cyclones 2-0 loss. Gee gave up both two runs. Tim Stronach followed Gee, pitching three innings of hitless relief. Gee's ERA is still under 2.00 (1.91); however, Stronach's is even better at 1.26.

Double-A: Binghamton won at home, 5-2, beating the Trenton Thunder, a Yankees farm team. The B-Mets scored all five runs in the sixth as 10 batters came to the plate. Left fielder Jamar Hill's line-drive single to center in the big inning was one of his three hits, elevating his batting average to .357.

Reliever Carlos Muniz saved another game, his 22nd, for the cellar dwellers. Only Connecticut 's Brian Anderson has more, 23. In third place is ex-Met Matt Peterson, who now pitches for Altoona.

Triple-A: Philip Humber, who hadn't pitched for the Zephyrs since July 22, started and pitched four innings. Rumor has it that he had food poisoning. The Zepher's media relations guy failed to return a request for information about Humber's absence.

Humber did well in his return. In four innings he gave up just two hits and a run, though his control was a bit erratic. He walked four. His successor did even better. Willie Collazo held Sacramento run-less to gain his fifth win and lower his ERA to 3.05. In the 93 degree heat, the two Mets threw a lot of pitches, 136. Humber threw 76 of them. The Mets won 4-1.

Majors: Oliver Pérez started last night's Mets game "hyper," according to catcher Ramon Castro, and was lucky to last past the second inning after giving up five runs in the first two. One was Prince Fielder's first inning, three-run blast off the center-field scoreboard that, fortunately, didn't disable it. But then, Pérez settled down, not allowing another run and only two singles during his final four innings while striking out seven, all swinging, including Fielder. He finished the game with 11 K's, his season high.

Fortunately, the bottom of the Mets order saved them from defeat. Ramon Castro hit a three-run shot in the second. Marlon Anderson, starting in center field in place of Lastings Milledge, drove in four runs, three with a third-inning homer. And Shawn Green sent one into the seats in the sixth.

Guillermo Mota pitched last night as he should have the night before when Glavine was seeking his 300th win, giving up no runs, no hits, and no walks in two innings of work. He even struck out Fielder. Did the pressure get to him the night before?