Glavine will have bite in his return

Tom Glavine has temporary new front teeth and just a little anxiety about getting back on the mound today for the first time since a taxi accident last week.

He’s not expecting to be as sharp as usual, or to have perfect location on his pitches. He might even take out his teeth if they are hurting him or become a distraction.

“It would make a good picture with me on the mound with no teeth, smiling,” he said Friday before the New York Mets opened a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants.

This is the longest Glavine has gone without a start – he last pitched Aug. 6 at St. Louis, getting the loss in the Mets’ 6-4 defeat.

On Aug. 13, Glavine got into a taxi leaving New York’s LaGuardia Airport and called his wife on his cell phone. Then he heard the driver shout.

The pitcher slammed face first into the partition between the front and back seats as the taxi collided with an SUV, and the next thing he knew, he had one tooth in his hand and blood was streaming from his mouth.

Glavine will wear the teeth for about nine months, then doctors will determine how well the bone above his upper lip has healed. “It shattered,” he said of the area.

He hopes to eventually get implants.

Tavarez ejected for dirty cap

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Julian Tavarez keeps running into trouble with his grimy, dirt-smudged cap. For the first time this season, it got him ejected.

Tavarez lasted one out in a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a day-night doubleheader. Umpire crew chief Joe West conducted a lengthy inspection of the cap before the eighth inning before tossing Tavarez, who made a flamboyant exit.

First, Tavarez put his arm around home plate umpire Ron Kulpa and suggested the two get a beer after the game. Then he flipped his cap to a fan in the stands behind the dugout on his way off the field.

“He asked me if it was pine tar and it was like ‘No, it’s just a dirty hat,’ ” Tavarez said. “Every pitch I throw I touch my hat, just like a lot of guys.

“I asked him if I could wear another hat and he said, ‘No, you’re out of the game.’ “

West said he was enforcing Rule 802.b, which prohibits foreign substances on uniforms and caps.

Guillen says he let team down

Suspended Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen feels he let his team down by missing four games this week but won’t hesitate in the future to express his opinions.

Guillen was serving the final day of a second straight two-game suspension for calling umpire Hunter Wendelstedt a liar. He also was fined $2,000 by the commissioner’s office.

“I’ll turn the page in my book. I think the worst feeling about it is when you can’t do anything about your team,” Guillen said. “About the money, about the days, I couldn’t care less.”

Kennedy, Kendall suspended

Colorado Rockies pitcher Joe Kennedy was suspended for five games and Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Jason Kendall four games for their parts in a bench-clearing brawl Sunday. Both were also fined an undisclosed amount.

Kennedy declined to comment, but Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said the left-hander appealed the suspension and would be able to make his next start today against Montreal.

Kendall would not start serving his suspension until after his appeal is heard.

McEwing out for season with broken leg

New York Mets infielder Joe McEwing was placed on the 60-day disabled list, a day after getting hurt in the second game of a doubleheader at Colorado. McEwing has a broken fibula and was told healing will take six to eight weeks. He had hoped to return this year.

New York brought up infielder Jeff Keppinger from Triple-A Norfolk to fill McEwing’s roster spot.