AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 03
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Smoltz vs. Glavine on Saturday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OK, I’ll crank out a quick blog before heading out to get something to eat. Did you hear: Smoltz vs. Glavine on Saturday. Only the second time the buds will face each other, first since July 2005, and first time in Atlanta.
More on that in a moment.
All I can say is, good thing you all can’t smell the funk on me as I write this, because I just got back from running down Ben Franklin Parkway and up the steps of the “Rocky” building (the Philadelphia Museum of Art).
Hey, nothing wrong with acting like a tourist sometimes. But not too often.
(And right about now I’m reminded why I confine most of my running to a treadmill these days _ knees are aching from the sidewalk, curbs, etc. Old man knees, too many years of running….)
It’s an off day and the Braves’ workout was voluntary and brief, so I’ll blog accordingly. This time, I’m serious about keeping it being brief. I always say that, but this time, no question.
Obviously the news of the day is Lance Cormier and the Braves’ likely decision to put him on the DL because of his sore shoulder. Bobby Cox just told me that after he watched Cormier long-toss at the corporate-bank-name ballyard in Philly.
He’s going to throw again Friday, but I really think the decision has pretty much been made.
That’s too bad for Cormier, who pitched his butt off this spring to win a spot in the rotation. But by being cautious now the Braves hope to get him back quickly. They can retro the DL assignment to March 27, the day after his last spring start.
That would make him eligible to come off as soon as April 11, if my math’s correct (and we know how reliable my math is _ no comments from the peanut gallery).
It’s not official and Bobby said it wasn’t certain, but I think Cormier will be DL’d and Kyle Davies recalled from Class AAA Richmond to start Sunday vs. the Mets. Bobby even said he thought it would be Davies, before adding it wasn’t decided yet.
The Braves will probably have Cormier rest and rehab for the soreness in his triceps/armpit area. I don’t know if they’ve scheduled an MRI exam, but they probably will think about that if they haven’t set it up already, just to make sure there’s no structural damage.
Until he left that March 26 start against the Astros, spring was pretty much bliss for Cormier. Led the Braves with a 1.15 ERA and limited opponents to a .186 average while recording 13 strikeouts with one walk in 15-2/3 innings. Big stuff.
But it’s not like they’re bringing up some hack like a couple they had to turn to in binds last year. Davies also made progress late in spring training after simplifying his windup. He finished with a 2.84 ERA in five starts, allowing 14 hits and nine walks with 11 strikeouts in 19 innings.
If he can get past the damn first inning and not walk guys, Davies should do fine (he says, raising his eyebrows as if to say, those might be easier said than done).
Smoltz vs. Glavine: That’s the other news, the big matchup of friends, former teamamtes and golf partners on Saturday at Turner Field. They haven’t pitched against each other since 2005, and never in Atlanta.
Both pitched well in their only start against one another, July 15, 2005 at Shea. Smoltz allowed four hits and one run in seven innings and won. Glavine gave up one run and six hits in seven innings for no decision.
There had been some confusion about when Glavine would pitch in this series, but it came from the Mets’ end and was created, apparently, by their writers assuming Glavine would go on regular rest after his first start in their Sunday opener.
That would have put him in the Braves’ home opener Friday. But the team never announced that, and when they did announce pitching plans, it was Glavine going Saturday on an extra day of rest.
In this screwy first-week schedule the Mets have two days off and didn’t want to skip two starters in order to keep Glavien on regular rest. So he’ll go a day later than usual.
But we’ll get to that more in the next couple days.
The steps: Getting back to the run. Thought it was pretty cool that Sly and the Family Stone’s “Simple Song” (get it, Sly Stallone, Sly and the Fa… oh nevermind) was playing on my Ipod when I hit the steps. Then a Wrights song (have you heard them? Great husband/wife country group from Atlanta). Then I advanced the song to see what was next to run back down the stairs and, it was Townes Van Zandt’s “To Live is to Fly.” Not making that up.
Once again, I failed to keep it brief. Until tomorrow….
“THE PRETENDER” by Jackson Browne
I’m going to rent myself a house/In the shade of the freeway
I’m going to pack my lunch in the morning/And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around/I’ll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in/I’ll get up and do it again
Amen
Say it again
Amen
I want to know what became of the changes/We waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams/Of some greater awakening
I’ve been aware of the time going by/They say in the end it’s the wink of an eye
And when the morning light comes streaming in/You’ll get up and do it again
Caught between the longing for love/And the struggle for the legal tender
Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring/And the junk man pounds his fender
Where the veterans dream of the fight/Fast asleep at the traffic light
And the children solemnly wait/For the ice cream vendor
Out into the cool of the evening/Strolls the Pretender
He knows that all his hopes and dreams/Begin and end there
Ah the laughter of the lovers/As they run through the night
Leaving nothing for the others/But to choose off and fight
And tear at the world with all their might/While the ships bearing their dreams
Sail out of sight
I’m going to find myself a girl/Who can show me what laughter means
And we’ll fill in the missing colors/In each other’s paint-by-number dreams
And then we’ll put out dark glasses on/And we’ll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in/We’ll get up and do it again
Get it up again
I’m going to be a happy idiot/And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim/To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie/In those things that money can buy
Thought true love could have been a contender/Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender/Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender
