Tom Glavine allowed three runs in six innings in his tuneup for his opening-day start Sunday in St. Louis.

Most opening-day starts for a Red Sox catcher.

Kurt Warner, not Eli Manning, is preparing for the Giants' opening-day start at quarterback in Philadelphia.

His symptoms grew worse, and he nearly missed his opening-day start against San Diego on April 1.

About 50 people - Mets staff members, minor league players and reporters - watched Martínez throw 83 pitches over five innings of a simulated game, his final tuneup before his opening-day start Monday in Cincinnati.

That is what the Mets have come to expect from Glavine, who has now made as many opening-day starts for the Mets (four) as he did for the Braves.

Dallas Green, the Yankee manager, has remained loyal to John, who won a place in the pitching rotation and an opening-day start.

But opening-day starts are nothing new to him.

"It's an honor," said Clemens, speaking hypothetically about an opening-day start.

He confided mostly in his wife, Donna, and the Mets' trainer, Fred Hina, who eventually gave him sleeping pills for the night before his opening-day start, in San Diego.