ATLANTA -- Barbara McGlinchy already was floating through an ecstatic week last month when she discovered her benefits package as a city clerk in Malden, Mass., came with major league leave time.

The city can afford the perk. Kevin McGlinchy, Barbara's only child and the latest in a string of surprise Atlanta Braves relievers, is Malden's first major leaguer since the 1940s.

"The reaction in Malden has been overwhelming," Barbara said in a phone interview from her home. "I had to take a couple of days off at work because the phone calls were overwhelming, everyone congratulating me. I couldn't work, and my boss told me, 'Just go home and enjoy this. You can't get any work done.'"

Kevin McGlinchy's story has all the trappings of a small-townboy-makes-good tale, yet Malden is a Boston suburb of about 80,000 people. Barbara labels it closeknit nonetheless, and the town is proving her right.

When Kevin, who turns 22 June 28, made the Braves' bullpen out of spring training, though he had pitched only a handful of games above the Class A level, Malden City Hall erected a sign honoring its newest favorite son. The Malden Evening Press printed a large spread of photos and stories on him. Signs popped up around town, including in the family's favorite Italian restaurant down the street. Traditionally a Democratic suburb, Malden is proving that it indeed takes a whole village to raise a child.

And to watch him.

"I can't go anywhere without everybody having the Atlanta Braves on," Barbara said. "Obviously, the Red Sox are the team around here, but now they have the Red Sox on one TV and the Atlanta Braves on the other in the bars and restaurants. I've gone out and gotten a satellite, and so has my sister, so we can watch all the games."

Some Malden natives always link the town with its state. It isn't just Malden; it's Malden, Mass., perhaps in a quest for its own identity amid the shadow of Beantown 10 miles south. Atlanta discovered the Malden Mass on opening day, when Ed and Barbara McGlinchy escorted a party of 10 from Malden to Turner Field. They saw the 6-foot-5, 220-pound McGlinchy successfully debut only months after he was converted from a starter to a hard-throwing reliever during Puerto Rico winter ball.

So far, McGlinchy has been one of the steadiest members of an injured and inexperienced bullpen whose address forever seems to be Critical, Mass.

"I'm just trying to be as professional as I can about it and just trying to be as focused as I can every day," McGlinchy said. "I'm representing a lot of things out there, and I'm trying to keep my cool about it, trying to be under control and not trying to get too hyped up -- just be at an even keel and go out and do my job the best I can."

Control long has been a McGlinchy staple, whether keeping a grip on his emotions or a baseball. Braves manager Bobby Cox's explanation for McGlinchy's meteoric rise is quick: He throws hard and he throws strikes. "When you can do that, you can pitch from A-ball to the big leagues. I mean, just think about that. Why not? (Using him) is no problem with me. I like him. Tough kid. He's a big guy with no experience who throws strikes and throws 96 miles per hour. It's hard to compare him to somebody else."

It doesn't hurt that McGlinchy has appeared unfazed by the sheen of a major league career and its residuals. About the giddiest he gets is discussing this season's possibility of pitching against the New York Yankees and Roger Clemens, his boyhood hero whom he watched in Fenway "Pahhk" many times.

"It's kind of cool thing to play with guys whose baseball card you had 10 years ago," McGlinchy said. "But you can't be in awe. You've got to be tough and be on your own. You kind of don't want to go, 'Oh, there's Roger Clemens.' I don't feel that way. I feel like I deserve to be here."

McGlinchy had backed his words. He has allowed only one earned run in eight innings during nine appearances. Then again, he's accustomed to the attention. Barbara McGlinchy recalls the days when 25 major league scouts would show up for her son's Malden High School games. Before that, McGlinchy was one of those athletes who carried a youth team, once leading the 12-year-old Malden Dodgers to their first championship in 35 years. In one perfect game, McGlinchy struck out all 18 batters he faced.

"People would come down to watch him play because he had control when he was 10 years old," Barbara said.

These days, the batters still are wondering what's coming.

"His fastball, man, is unbelievable. And he's not afraid. He's not afraid to throw that fastball and put that fastball right on the outside corner," said catcher Eddie Perez. "I've had hitters turn around and ask me, 'Wow, what the hell is that?' Good hitters, too, in spring training. The guy was like, 'How am I going to hit that?' I was like, 'I don't know. I'm glad I'm catching, man.' He can throw the ball, man. He's surprised a lot of people here, and he's going to surprise a lot of people in the big leagues."

Perez, pitching coach Leo Mazzone and fellow reliever Rudy Seanez all see the same tangibles and intangibles in the boy who would (someday) be closer. McGlinchy has what Mazzone calls easy gas, a powerful fastball made more explosive by his fluid, effortless delivery; and a fearless, almost cocky, approach: "I know one thing," Mazzone said, raising his eyebrows, "He's not scared. He wants the ball, and he's going to get it."

Mazzone mentions that the Braves believe McGlinchy will be effective late in the game. Like Kerry Ligtenberg before him, McGlinchy has emerged as an unlikely candidate to claim a major role in the high-stakes Braves bullpen. Ironically, it was Ligtenberg's torn elbow ligament that sprung the leak for McGlinchy's easy gas.

But Ligtenberg came out of nowhere. Kevin McGlinchy came from Malden, Mass.