Tom Glavine: Mets Fans Keep Reminding Me About Nightmare Collapse

The date was September 30th, 2007.

And for Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine - it brings back haunting memories; ones that New York Mets fans still won't let him forget. 

The Mets, who were favorites in the National League leading into the playoff race that year, began fading towards the end of the season and found themselves in a must-win season finale against the lowly Florida Marlins. 

GLAVINE HAD ONE OF HIS WORST PERFORMANCES EVER

The Mets and their salivating fan base could taste the playoffs - they just had to get through that final game. The Mets went with one of their top pitchers in Glavine. Although his 4.14 ERA wasn't as good as previous years, at 13-7, Glavine still had it and, if anything, the Mets could count on his experience, nerves of steel and that ice in his veins. 

Or so they thought.

Glavine would have one of the worst pitching performances of his career. The kind that you wish you could have back - as he recently told me.

"I don't get do-overs in life, but if I had a do-over, that would definitely be one of them," the Hall of Famer said. "I'd prefer to forget that one, for sure."

Glavine gave up 7 runs and recorded only one out before being taken out in the FIRST inning with the Mets losing the vital game 8-1 and their World Series Championship dreams over.

When I asked him if that still gives him nightmares, Glavine nodded and said it took him a long time to try and get over it.

"I did for a while [have nightmares]," Glaving added. "That loss was poor timing… it's a tough game, but that was one of the ones that I wish I had a do-over." 

METS FANS AREN'T OVER IT

Glavine added that it comes down to that old adage that "you can't win them all."

"For my 305 wins, I had 200-and-something losses. It's a tough game."

And as far as those pesky Mets fans?

"Some of the Mets fans still give me crap," Glavine said. "But it is what it does… for the most part, I think people that I run into that are Mets fans appreciated me and what I was able to do, but I [definitely want] to forget about that [outing.]"

Fortunately for Glavine, he was able to have a storied career besides that final Mets game. The Hall of Famer won the Cy Young Award twice, is a 10x All-Star, a World Series Champion with the Braves, and accumulated over 300 wins.

Unfortunately for Mets fans, none of that happened while he was on the Mets.