NEW YORK (AP) -Mets left-hander Tom Glavine is pleased with his pitching and his health. His club also is poised to make the postseason for the second straight year.
What Glavine isn’t sure of is whether he wants to return for a 22nd season in the majors.
“I know that I can’t honestly answer that question from a physical standpoint or an emotional standpoint until I get home and get away from baseball, and assess how important baseball is to me versus how much I want to be home,” Glavine said Tuesday.
The 41-year-old Glavine lives in Georgia in the offseason with his wife and children. He said his family is supportive of him pitching another year, but that’s only one part of the equation.
“The determining factor, I think, again becomes how much does my enjoyment of the game outweigh the sacrifices that I know they’re making,” Glavine said.
Glavine will go for his 14th win in the opener of a three-game series against the Phillies on Friday night at Shea Stadium. He is 8-1 with a 3.27 ERA over his last 15 starts.
The postseason success of NL East-leading New York could factor into Glavine’s decision.
“For me to have won my 300th game, for us to win a World Series and me be pitching pretty good all throughout that, I mean you talk about walking out on top of your game,” he said.
Glavine (13-6) needed just 86 pitches to beat Houston 3-1 Saturday and earn win No. 303. He limited the Astros to one run and three hits in seven-plus innings.
He hasn’t lost since July 2 at Colorado, and has allowed just two earned runs in his last 20 innings over three starts.
“As long as I continue to feel good then yeah, that lends itself for me playing,” Glavine said.
The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner agreed to a $10.5 million, one-year contract with New York in the offseason. His deal contained a $9 million player option for 2008 that became guaranteed when he passed 160 innings this season.
The price of the option increases by $1 million for each additional 10 innings up to a maximum price of $13 million. He has thrown 182 1-3 innings so far this season.
If the option isn’t exercised, Glavine gets a $3 million buyout. He also has the right to decline the option.
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