Glavine Not in the Zone

Tom Glavine thinks a machine is ruining baseball. Especially for him.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner lost to his old team for the third time this season as the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets, 6-3, Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep and make Russ Ortiz the National League’s first 12-game winner.

Glavine blamed the loss partly on the machine used to evaluate umpires, saying it has caused them to shrink his strike zone to an impossibly narrow width.

“I know my name has been brought up in the Questec argument,” he said. “I’m the poster child.”

At Shea Stadium, where the Questec system is used, Glavine is 2-7. On the road, he’s 4-2.

He says umpires have told Met catchers that they will not call pitches on the corners at Shea because they don’t want the machine to give them poor grades.

“Why not eliminate that altogether and have an electronic strike zone?” Glavine said.

Glavine said he has heard throughout his career complaints that his strike zone “was 24 inches wide and everyone else’s was 10.” Echoing the complaints of Arizona’s Curt Schilling, he says it’s no longer possible to know in advance what’s a ball and what’s a strike. And because of that, Glavine says only power pitchers can be successful. Finesse guys who work the corners are out of luck.

He estimated the computer cost him eight to 10 pitches Wednesday that would have been called strikes in the past.

“Glavine is the same pitcher,” Atlanta catcher Javy Lopez said. “I don’t see anything different. He was throwing the same way as when he was with us.”

Glavine gave up five runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings and tied a season high with five walks.