Chess in the Mets clubhouse

Mets 4, Giants 1
With the Mets’ Early Help, Glavine Gets Closer to 300
By BEN SHPIGEL

SAN FRANCISCO, May 8 — Tom Glavine arrived at AT&T Park on Tuesday afternoon to find that the Mets’ clubhouse had turned into a barbershop. As he walked toward his locker, he saw a bald Mike Pelfrey, a crew-cutted Joe Smith and a flat-topped David Wright, then peered into the bathroom to see Carlos Beltrán wielding an electric razor.

“What the hell is going on around here?” Glavine said, with a laugh.

…When Pelfrey emerged, rubbing his bare noggin, Paul Lo Duca pointed and called him Sinead O’Pelfrey. Most players succumbed willingly. Smith had no choice because he is a rookie. Others, like David Newhan and Green, needed a little coaxing. Newhan curled up in his locker, hoping that no one would spot him, while Green sat glued on his chair.

“I’m honestly shaking right now,” Green said. “Someone’s got to reimburse me the $50 it cost to get it cut in Arizona.”

Sitting nearby playing chess with John Maine, Heilman asked the already-bald Delgado, “Does this mean you have to grow your hair now?”
Green finally relented, and after Newhan finished a television interview — “His last interview as a good-looking guy,” Green said — they met their fate.

The lighter, more aerodynamic Mets, perhaps emboldened by their sign of solidarity, wasted no time scoring against Cain. Consecutive doubles by Reyes, Wright and Beltrán put the Mets ahead, 2-0, before Cain recorded an out. After Delgado’s groundout, Moises Alou lofted a sacrifice fly to score Beltrán.

Here is the full story.