Tom Glavine surely would have preferred to reach his milestone last Tuesday in Milwaukee. Doing so in front of his hometown fans at Shea Stadium would have been far more preferable as well. Heck, turning the trick in Atlanta, where the 41-year-old was a winner 242 times, was probably a better option.

But instead, he was able to go for an historic moment at a truly historic ballpark.

And he didn’t disappoint.

Glavine allowed one run through six innings before tiring in the seventh and also opened the scoring with an RBI single to lead the Mets to an 8-3 win over the Cubs on Sunday night at Wrigley Field.

In doing so, the two-time Cy Young Award winner became the 23rd pitcher in history to win 300 games, only the sixth from the National League and just the fifth left-hander.

Carlos Delgado drove in four runs while Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo sparked the top of the order, combining for seven hits, an RBI, four runs scored and three stolen bases.

Of course, it's impossible to win without offensive support, but the star of the game was Glavine (10-6), who allowed two runs on six hits and a walk while fanning one in 6 1/3 innings.

New York finished their Midwest road trip at 4-2, taking two-of-three against both Milwaukee and Chicago.

Cubs starter Jason Marquis was roughed up for five runs on nine hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings.

Mike Fontenot, Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones drove in a run apiece for Chicago.

With the game scoreless in the second, Glavine took it upon himself to break the ice offensively. After Paul Lo Duca and Shawn Green were retired to start the inning, Lastings Milledge walked and stole second. Glavine followed with a single up the middle for a 1-0 lead.

The score remained the same until New York gave their starter some breathing room, tacking on a pair of runs in the fifth.

Castillo (4-for-5, SB, 2B) led off with a single and moved to second on David Wright’s fly out to deep center. Delgado then smacked his first of two doubles on the evening, extending the lead to 2-0. Following a groundout by Moises Alou and a wild pitch, Shawn Green gave the Mets a three-run cushion with an RBI double.

New York knocked Marquis (8-7) out of the game in the sixth after Milledge (3-for-4, SB, 2B) doubled and scored on Reyes’ single. Scott Eyre was brought in to relieve and loaded the bases intentionally by walking Wright following a double steal. Delgado (2-for-4, 2 2B, 4 RBI) increased the edge to 5-0 with an RBI groundout.

Chicago got on the board in the bottom half on back-to-back doubles by Derrek Lee and Ramirez (1-for-4, 2B, RBI) and made things even more interesting in the seventh.

Angel Pagan’s one-out double spelled the end of the evening for Glavine, who was relieved by Guillermo Mota, the goat in last week in Milwaukee. The right-hander surrendered a single to Jason Kendall and was promptly removed in favor of Pedro Feliciano, who retired Jones on a groundout, which plated Pagan, cutting the lead to 5-2.

Fontenot then doubled down the line in left to slice the deficit to 5-3, but Aaron Heilman needed just three pitches to retire Ryan Theriot for the final out.

The Mets made sure there would be little nail biting, scoring twice more in the top of the eighth on Delgado’s second double and Lo Duca’s RBI single, before tacking on another run in the ninth when Reyes (3-for-6, SB, 3B, RBI) tripled to center and scored on a sacrifice fly by Delgado.

Billy Wagner retired the side in the ninth to close out the milestone victory,

The bad far outweighed the good for the Cubs, who not only lost the game, but also Alfonso Soriano. The left fielder was rounding second and headed to third when he pulled up lame thanks to a strained quadriceps, which is expected to sideline him from two-to-four weeks.

Kerry Wood, however, pitched a scoreless inning of relief, allowing a hit and striking out one in his first big league appearance since June 6, 2006.

With a successful trip behind them, the Mets (63-48) return home for a key series with the rival Braves starting on Tuesday. Oliver Perez (10-7, 3.00) will take the hill in the opener looking for his fourth win in five starts. Despite a shaky start in which he surrendered five runs over the first two innings, the 25-year-old settled down to defeat Milwaukee last Wednesday, striking out a season-high 11. Perez has been a mystery to Atlanta thus far in 2007, going 3-0 and surrendering just three runs on 18 hits and two walks while fanning 20 over 20 2/3 innings (1.31 ERA).

The second-place Braves (59-53) will look to shave some of their 4 ½-game deficit as they make their second trip to Shea this season. Buddy Carlyle (6-3, 4.20) will get his first look at the Mets as he goes for his fifth win in six starts. The 29-year-old allowed two runs in five innings in his last outing, a 5-2 victory over the Houston Astros. In his last seven starts, Carlyle is 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA.

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