Not Again

Glavine Continues Mastery of Phils with Another Gem

In a sense, David Coggin's start against the Atlanta Braves, Thursday night in the Vet, had the feeling of a colleague's last day at work. However, there was no air of finality to it because Coggin will still be around, he'll just be out in the bullpen.

That's because Randy Wolf will be activated from the 15-day disabled list in time for his scheduled start against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday making the outing against the Braves his last start unless some unforeseen incident occurs or Brett Myers isn't called up from Triple-A.

	Mike Lieberthal made this spectacular catch and drove in a run in the Phils 6-2 loss to the Braves. (AP)

But if it wasn't for Wolf's return, Coggin might have been sent out to pasture anyway. A five-hit, five-run and four-walk performance in a five-inning stint in a 6-2 loss to the Braves would have forced manager Larry Bowa re-evaluate the way in which he uses the right-hander, anyway.

"Coggin left the ball up and when he left it up there, they did something with it," Bowa said.

Coggin gave up an RBI double to B.J. Surhoff in the second, a two-run single to Marcus Giles in the fourth and a two-run 415-foot bomb to Vinny Castilla in the fifth. When the Phils scored twice in the eighth on RBI-singles by Scott Rolen and Mike Lieberthal off reliever Tim Spooneybarger, the team's fate had been sealed.

"I didn't do very well to prove to the coaching staff that I should be a starter," Coggin said.

Then again, it's not like Coggin had a chance anyway. Braves' hurler Tom Glavine was just that good.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner stymied the Phils for seven innings with a steady diet of off-speed pitches that painted the edges of the plate like he had the ball tied to a string. In his no-run, three-hit, four-whiff outing, the cagey lefty kept the Phils hitless for 3 2/3 and retired 17 of the first 18 batters he faced. Only in the sixth and seventh did he face a situation where two runners reached base but even then there were two outs.

A pitcher famous, or, depending on your allegiance, notorious for strong Aprils, Glavine improved to 2-0 and lowered his ERA to 0.89 with 20 1/3 innings pitched. Leading 6-0 and having already tossed 106 pitches, Glavine decided against going for the complete game. It's still early, he says, but if it were May or June and he was feeling as strong as he does sharp, the five-time 20-game winner would have stayed out there.

"I feel good about going out there and doing what I'm doing but I'm certainly not as strong as I'll be a month from now," Glavine said. "A month from now that's a game I'll probably try to finish. With a big lead like we had I'm of the mindset that I should get out of there and not abuse myself."

According to Phils manager Larry Bowa, Glavine did whatever he wanted to.

"He puts the ball where he wants to and he changes speeds," Bowa said. "We tried to make him throw it up but he's like a painter out there."

Bowa likens Glavine's pitching style to that of old Padres 20-game winner and 1976 Cy Young Award winner, Randy Jones. Bowa remembered facing the less than intimidating Jones as a player and thinking he had a shot against him.

"He was a guy you didn't mind hitting against but at the end of the day you were 0-for-3 and couldn't figure out why."

Why is something the Phils have had a rough time figuring out throughout Glavine's 16-year career. With his latest win, the probable Hall-of-Famer has a 23-8 record against the Phils with an 11-4 mark here at the Vet. And even now that he's 36, Picasso is aging like a nice bottle of the wine that Len Dykstra brought home with him after traveling through France as MLB's "Ambassador of Baseball."

"Everybody is talking so much about my age," said Glavine, who turned 36 last month. "But my style of pitching isn't going to change. I'm not going to wake up one day and not be able to throw 95. It's about understanding what you have on a given night and using it."

His manager Bobby Cox says he is even more precise with his pitches... and that's about a guy who has averaged 76 walks and 226 innings per season.

"He's throwing well, pitching the same as he always has," Cox said. "He's right on target. His control is even better now than it has been, if that's possible."

Meanwhile, Bowa went with a different lineup for the third straight night against the Braves. With Bobby Abreu day-to-day with a strained hamstring suffered while legging out a double Wednesday night and Travis Lee struggling, John Mabry and Dave Hollins got their first starts of the season.

Still, it didn't much matter who was out there against Glavine.

The Reds, sans the injured Ken Griffey Jr., come to the Vet for a weekend series beginning Friday where Wolf will make his first start of the season. Disabled since the end of March with tendonitis in his left elbow, Wolf threw five innings in a rehab start for Clearwater of the Florida State League against Dunedin. During that game, Wolf struck out eight and gave up just one hit.

He'll be faced by Chris Reitsma (0-0, 1.80) for the Griffey-less Reds. Last time out, Reitsma gave up a run and five hits in a loss to the Expos and did not figure in the decision.

Notes: Mike Lieberthal made a spectacular diving catch of a pop foul by Tom Glavine that is sure to be replayed on all the highlight tapes. On the play, Glavine attempted to bunt with runners on second and third with one out and fouled it back near the corner of the Braves' dugout. Lieberthal completely laid out with arms and legs extended and pulled it in. ... Rolen's RBI in the eighth was the 499th of his career. ... Rheal Cormier and Carlos Silva each pitched a scoreless inning of relief. ... Darren Holmes picked up his first save since April 4, 2000 by throwing 1 2/3 of scoreless ball. ... Phils pitchers have hit nine batters this season.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com