Brave turned Met turned Brave Tom Glavine has thrown his last pitch of 2008, and possible career. In his first start since early June, lasted four innings and gave up seven runs, which while an improvement over his previous start that lasted just three innings, still considered not that good.

Glavines injury is yet another blow to the Braves, with Smoltz and Hudson already down for the season, leaving them with a rotation of rookies and Mike Hampton. Luckily for them, Hampton is the Cal Ripkin of pitching. And he almost has his ERA below 8. Almost.

This will be only the second time Glavine failed to throw 100 innings, the first being his debut season in which he only appeared in nine games. Oddly enough, his ERA then was equal to his current one: 5.54. Since 1995 Glavine has proven able to break the 200 inning mark almost every year, his 183 innings in his Met debut being his ‘worst’ season.

I know he says if he doesn’t require surgery and is feeling healthy, he’d consider coming back for 2009, but it just seems that Tommy is done. He really didn’t seem that interested in coming back this year, he’s clearly struggled the last two seasons, which have included his worst five games of his career. Its time to pack it up, maybe accept some minor league coaching position in the Braves system, and start writing that Hall of Fame speech. Ignoring the bad taste he left with the NY Fans on his way out, there’s no arguement: Tom Glavine is a Hall of Fame pitcher, probably the last 300 game winner we’ll see for quite some time, and proved you could dominate with smart pitching instead of using PEDs. He was a class act, and someone who was good for the sport. But its better for him to stop now, use this new injury setback as an exit, rather than return in 2009 for a season that would most likely do nothing but leave a blemish on his career.