Glavine shaky in return, but Mets rally past Astros

HOUSTON (AP) -- Tom Glavine wasn't too disappointed that he didn't get the win in his first start since being sidelined by a blood clot.

Elias Says

Glavine Tom Glavine pitched for the Mets in Houston, his first start since Aug. 16. The 15 days between that game and his start on Friday represented the longest gap between starts in one season in Glavine's major-league career. Glavine faced the minimum nine batters through three innings but was then lit up for five runs in the fourth. It was only the second time in his Mets career that Glavine gave up as many as five runs in an inning. The other time was on June 28, 2003 vs. the Yankees at Shea Stadium (five runs in the fifth inning). • For more Elias Says, Click here.

What's important is that he's healthy. And besides, the New York Mets still beat the Houston Astros 8-6 on Friday night thanks to pinch-hitter Jose Valentin's RBI double that broke an eighth inning tie.

"Right now my goals are simple, I just want to feel good and come out of the game feeling good and that happened tonight so that's good," Glavine said.

The game was tied at 6 when Valentin's hit to the corner in left scored David Wright, who had three RBI. Endy Chavez followed with an RBI-single to extend the lead.

The loss ended a season-high six-game winning streak for the Astros, who are looking to make a push for the playoffs.

Glavine made his first appearance in more than two weeks after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his pitching shoulder. He remained stalled at 287 wins after leaving the game with the scored tied 6-6.

Glavine threw 93 pitches, 52 for strikes and allowed seven hits and six runs while striking out five.

But the National League-leading Mets should be encouraged by the 40-year-old two-time Cy Young winner's return to the mound as they gear up for the playoffs, even if it was less than stellar.

He said he hasn't felt the coldness in his left ring finger that led to his absence in almost a week.

"I'm very excited about Glavine tonight," manager Willie Randolph said. "I said before the game, win or lose, it will be good just to see him out there healthy."

He looked good early, retiring the first six batters before giving up a single to lead off the third inning. He consistently threw 85-87 mph fastballs and retired three more batters before getting into trouble in the fourth.

He allowed four straight hits after striking out Willy Taveras to lead off the inning. Jason Lane had an RBI-single after two consecutive hits.

Morgan Ensberg's single to left field loaded the bases before Glavine walked Chris Burke to make it 3-2. After a short meeting on the mound with a coach and his catcher, Glavine remained in the game only to allow a two-RBI single to Humberto Quintero two pitches later. Quintero was making his first start of the season.

Burke scored on a wild pitch to finish out Houston's five-run inning.

"It was a little bit of a relief to get out there I was anxious to get back out there," Glavine said. "There's a little bit of wanting to get back out there and clear your mind and make sure everything is fine. Everything felt good...so hopefully I can just get more and more comfortable as time goes by."

Guillermo Mota (1-0) got the win pitching a scoreless inning. Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 33rd save in 38 chances. He gave up an RBI single to Craig Biggio.

"We had a chance," Biggio said. "Wags has run off a bunch of saves in the last month, and he's one of the elite closers in the game. We gave ourselves a chance, but we came up short."

With New York trailing 5-3 in the fifth, Lane missed a long fly by Wright after he tripped while backpedaling and bumped his head into the right field wall, resulting in a three-run double.

Houston tied it at 6 when Taveras scored on a sacrifice fly by Lane in the fifth.

In the second, Chavez had an RBI-single on a grounder to Adam Everett. Everett, who hadn't committed an error in 53 straight games, badly overthrew first baseman Lance Berkman to score Shawn Green.

Carlos Delgado had an RBI-single that ricocheted off pitcher Wandy Rodriguez and into center to give New York a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

Astros fans apparently still haven't gotten over Carlos Beltran's decision to leave Houston in favor of signing with the Mets in 2004. The rowdy crowd of 35,548 took every opportunity to voice their distaste with him, heartily booing when he batted and every time a ball came his way in center field. A handful of Mets fans stood and cheered for him but they were easily drowned out by the boos.

Houston starter Rodriguez allowed five hits and three runs in four innings. Russ Springer (1-1) allowed two runs and three hits with one strikeout in the eighth.

Game notes
Randolph said that Cliff Floyd, who is on the 15-day disabled list with an Achilles' tendon injury, will join the team in Houston on Saturday. ... Paul Lo Duca's double in the fifth inning extended his hitting streak to 11 games. ... With five strikeouts on Friday, Glavine has 2,458 in his career, just three behind Jim Kaat for 32nd on the all-time list.