On the Mets beat

BY DAVID LENNON

LOS ANGELES – Tom Glavine made the wrong kind of history last night at Dodger Stadium. After waiting a lifetime for No. 300, Glavine, only two wins away from the milestone, turned in his shortest outing in four years when he was pulled with none out in the third inning.

But the Mets, who have a division title to defend, were less worried about Glavine and more concerned with getting some “payback” from the Dodgers for a three-game sweep suffered here in June. Mission accomplished.

The Mets scored six runs in the first inning, piled on more to compensate for Glavine’s troubles and then rode the bullpen for a bumpy 13-9 victory over the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. Carlos Delgado and Ramon Castro hit back-t0-back homers in the sixth inning and Carlos Beltran went deep in the eighth as the Mets stacked up their highest run total of the season. The 13 runs also matched the most they had ever scored against the Dodgers dating to May 16, 1982.

Marlon Anderson, fresh from Triple-A New Orleans, started in leftfield and had two RBI, as did Jose Reyes, David Wright and Castro. The Mets also scored a pair of runs on Matt Kemp’s fielding error and Ruben Gotay added an RBI-single. Somehow, they still won despite getting outhit by the Dodgers, 19-16.

“Did we win that game?” manager Willie Randolph said. “It sure didn’t feel like it.”

Glavine allowed 10 hits and six runs in two-plus innings, his shortest stint since he lasted only one inning on July 29, 2003 against the Brewers at Shea. In that game, however, the two-time Cy Young winner was forced to leave with a strained rib cage muscle. Last night, Glavine did not appear to be injured and the Mets led, 9-5, when he was replaced by Aaron Sele, who allowed two hits over three innings for the victory.

“Fun night,” Glavine said. “If you’re going to pitch lousy and we win, it’s whole lot easier to deal with. I don’t know what happened to be honest with you. When I made good pitches, they laid off them and when I made bad ones, they hit them.”

As badly as the Mets throttled Derek Lowe, who was knocked out after serving up 10 hits and nine runs in three innings, Glavine was wobbly himself by the third. With Glavine closing fast on his personal milestone, manager Willie Randolph has tried to give him the benefit of the doubt in close games. But leaving him in last night would have been sadistic.

Jeff Kent crushed his first pitch of the third inning over the leftfield wall and the Dodgers followed with three straight singles to load the bases. That brought out pitching coach Peterson and Glavine handed him the baseball without looking up as he walked back to the dugout with his head down.

“Any time the team goes out there and gives you six runs early, then gives you nine runs and you struggle to win the game, that’s frustrating,” Glavine said. “When I didn’t do anything to protect that, it’s embarrassing.”

Glavine exited with the bases loaded, but Sele retired Matt Kemp on a harmless fly ball to center and the Mets got lucky on Olmedo Saenz’s sacrifice fly when Nomar Garciaparra unwisely tried for third. Carlos Delgado cut off the throw and easily flipped over to David Wright for the tag.

In the manager’s words, the Mets were hungry for “payback” after suffering a three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium last month. And this time, the front office called for reinforcements as Anderson was promoted to face the team that had released him earlier this season.

But Anderson, one of the game’s best pinch hitters, wasn’t being saved for late-inning duty. Randolph inserted him into the starting lineup in leftfield and Anderson became the 14th player to bat in the No. 2 hole for the Mets this season. As for the chance for revenge, Anderson smiled.

“You guys put whatever spin on it you want,” Anderson said yesterday afternoon. “I’m looking to go out there and play baseball.”

In that case, using Lowe as a pinata was a bonus. Anderson helped spur the Mets to their most prolific first inning since 2004 in charging to a 6-0 lead. Reyes and Anderson opened with back-to-back singles before Wright launched a tw0-run double.

After a walk to Delgado and an RBI single by Castro, the Mets caught a break when the rightfielder Kemp let Shawn Green’s base hit roll under his glove for an error that allowed two runs to score. By then, the laid-back LA fans had begun to boo, and the Mets weren’t finished until Gotay lashed a run-scoring single to centerfield.

Despite the Mets’ fast start, this would be no pleasure cruise to No. 299 for Glavine, who, like Lowe, was pummeled early and often. And if not for some questionable baserunning, things could have been even worse for Glavine. In the first inning, the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out for Luis Gonzalez, who ripped a two-run single to rightfield.

Kent tried to go from first to third on Green, but he fired a perfect one-hop throw that cut him down easily. That helped Glavine escape without further damage – or simply delay it until later. In the second inning, Kemp redeemed himself with a two-run homer and Kent also went deep to open the third.

As soon as the Mets supplied runs, it seemed, Glavine would give them back. In the top of the third, they loaded the bases with one out before Reyes’ dribbler down the first-base line pushed another run across. Next up was Anderson, and he slapped a two-run single to centerfield that put the Mets ahead, 9-4.

Alas, nothing could save Glavine on this night, and he spent the majority of it in the clubhouse. When told later that it was his shortest start since 2003, he laughed. “Let’s hope it’s another four years,” Glavine said.