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Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Starter? Closer? Only answer is to clone Smoltz
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
He should start. No, he should close, or maybe he should wait until the leaves start falling, and then he should zip into the bullpen to help the Braves’ search for their first world championship in 10 years.
He should start. No, he should close, or maybe he should wait until the leaves start falling, and then he should zip into the bullpen to help the Braves’ search for their first world championship in 10 years.
“Nah, I think you’d be taking a big chance to try and switch a guy in a situation like that,� said Willie Randolph, who has seen a few decent pitchers as the current Mets manager and former coach and player of the Yankees.
Added Randolph on Tuesday at Turner Field after he recalled operating in the vicinity of World Series greatness among relievers, from Goose Gossage to Mariano Rivera: “Closers are important, but you have to have them lead up to that situation before a playoff situation.� So there goes that crazy idea about the Braves’ John Smoltz. Just leave him alone.
I think. It’s just that two of Smoltz’s successors (Dan Kolb and Chris Reitsma) were a hitter’s best friend. That’s why I wondered if the Braves should do something bold. You know, something to help them get out of the first round of the playoffs after their flips, flops and chokes during four of the past five seasons.
My change of heart (for the moment) has nothing to do with Kyle Farnsworth flashing signs of decency since the end of last month. This time, he collected his fifth save in five tries to preserve Smoltz’s seven innings along the way to a 14th victory against six losses and a 2.96 ERA. The thing is, Kolb and Reitsma also had some nice moments. But none among this trio is resembling Smoltz, who spent the previous three years sprinting toward the Hall of Fame as a reliever after doing the same as a starter for a dozen years.
Now Smoltz is back as a starter, and when it comes to potency, nothing’s changed for this former Cy Young winner, who’s thrown more innings than any pitcher in baseball not named Chris Carpenter. All this from a 38-year-old who was moved to the bullpen after elbow problems. He’s had no problems this season.
“This doesn’t surprise me,� said Braves manager Bobby Cox, who has watched Smoltz during most of the right-hander’s 19 years in pro baseball. “He’s incredibly gifted, and he’s as smart of a worker as you’d ever want to see in any athletics. Given all the injuries we’ve had with starters [three on the disabled list at one point this season], I really don’t know where we would be right now without him as a starter this year.�
What a wonderful mess for the Braves. On the one hand, Smoltz is too strong as a closer to remain a starter, especially since the Braves live for the postseason, where a Mariano Rivera is more valuable in the long run than a Roger Clemens. On the other, Smoltz is too strong as a starter to return to the bullpen, because he is a huge reason for the Braves’ miracle that is evolving into a 14th consecutive trip to the playoffs.
The solution? “That’s easy. I want two of Smoltzie,� said Cox, chuckling in the dugout before the versatile one continued to impress. “It’s nice to trot him out there every five days knowing that you’ve got a great chance to win. It’s nice to trot him out there three times a week knowing that you’ll have a zero up there in the ninth.�
So what does Smoltz wish to do? He smiled, saying, “I know in my heart the value of a starter on this team vs. that of a closer. Look at the Florida Marlins. Their top three starters are so good that it gives their team a lot of confidence. I know the end result [translated: that elusive second world championship] is what everybody has been talking about here, and if people just give this [Smoltz back as a starter for the playoffs, where he has more victories than anybody in history] a chance to work out, they’ll see the benefits later.� OK. I’m convinced. Keep Smoltz as a starter, and hope for the best from Farnsworth.
Come to think of it, that’s exactly what the Braves are doing.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Admit it: It’s nice to have Spurrier back
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Pardon me. Mind if I have a few words on the subject of Steve Spurrier? You realize it’s rather gauche to say anything nice about the “Evil Genius.”
“Evil Genius,” now that’s pretty strong stuff, don’t you think? I know they’re just kidding but “evil”? Clever. Cunning. Crafty. All those things, true. Oh, well, on with it.
Spurrier is a preacher’s son, and in my time the preacher’s son was usually the meanest little wretch in town. I don’t know what Steve’s social standing was in Johnson City, Tenn., but I’d guess it wasn’t bad. He was the best athlete in school, and you know how people are about the gifted athlete.
I notice all these coaches, or formers, taking a whack at him as he returns to the stage at South Carolina. Lou Holtz, whose cast Spurrier inherited, predicted he’d upset Georgia on Saturday. Terry Bowden says, “Not many tears will be shed if he struggles.” But you know, they all have something in common — they’ve all been losing to him, all three of the Bowdens.
Now, I once said if I had to hire a coach for any kind of team, I’d hire Spurrier. I said that recently while being interviewed by a radio station in Birmingham and was abruptly cut off. It’s OK. I’ve known him when he wasn’t so great. He was just a lowly assistant. Few remember that he was quarterbacks coach at Georgia Tech in 1979, but for one season only. Got here just in time to get fired with Pepper Rodgers, who had been his offensive coach during his Heisman career at Florida.
Well, he was a great coach until he got to Washington. He didn’t realize what he was walking into. He thought he would be in charge. Nobody who works for Dan Snyder is in charge. All his losing victims cheered when he took his leave of the SEC, but life with the Redskins didn’t work out too well.
The thing about Spurrier is that he has no secrets. His face gives him away. Every emotion generated inside comes to the surface. When his games are televised, the network can’t wait for him to toss his visor, as he did when the Gamecocks were bumbling against Central Florida. Can you imagine a game between South Carolina and Central Florida, on a weekday night, being televised across the nation? It wasn’t the game, it was Spurrier. “Evil Genius” is back! Come one, come all, see the wild man toss his visor!
Enthusiasm meets bedlam, I think somebody said.
He took it in stride. “This is not about me,” he said. “I feel embarrassed by all the fuss about me.”
Oh, well, needless to try to humanize the man simply because I like him. He can be abrupt, funny, short-tempered, sometimes arrogant, all those things, but he doesn’t like to be a loser.
His mortal sin, it seems, is that he sometimes has run up the score on hapless teams. The NFL broke him of that habit, if it had been one. It’s sometimes hard to put restraints on a bunch of kids who don’t get on the field that often. I saw Holtz run up 21 points against him in the first quarter one time when South Carolina played Florida in Gainesville. But he got beat in the end.
Steve has triggered some of his own problems, and he’s looking down the gun barrel of another one Saturday in Athens. South Carolina has lately developed a habit he’d like to break — losing to Georgia. The rest of the SEC is chortling and rubbing its hands in glee. This is one that will require all the genius the “Evil One” can muster.
On the other hand, isn’t it sort of nice to have him back? Life’s no fun without somebody to pick on. Pity.
Permalink | Comments (36) | Categories: Furman Bisher, UGA / SEC
The Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10: As I blog, I’m sitting in a coffee shop at the Tallahassee airport. Many tired, angry people in here wearing orange.
9: That was an important win for Florida State last night. But I’m thinking Larry Coker felt a lot better about Miami’s future watching Kyle Wright (16-28, 232 yards) than Bobby Bowden did watching Drew Weatherford (7-24, 67).
8: Dan Kolb comes in from the bullpen. Gives up a grand slam home run. Braves lose. Clearly Bobby Cox did not read Braves Bullpen For Dummies. Chapter 1: “When considering bringing Dan Kolb in from the bullpen, run head first into a wall, the re-evaluate your decision.”
7: If Dan Kolb wakes up in the morning with a horse’s head in his bed, does he still count against the 25-man roster? I mean, hypothetically, of course.
6: Braves’ magic number is 19. The bullpen has blown 19 save opportunities.
5: One former beat writer’s opinion: Jerry Rice can’t be the best player in NFL history because he wasn’t even the best player on his team (Joe Montana). But he’s in the top three (1. Jim Brown; 2. Montana; 3. Rice).
4: Barry Bonds is working out with the Giants, appears close to returning and noted that “it’s great to smell the grass again …” Geez. What a druggy.
3: Lance Armstrong and Sheryl Crow are engaged. I’m assuming they’re not going to honeymoon in France.
2: Got e-mailed a press release the other day in which Jesse Ventura touts a Canadian-based online betting service. Guess those political connections he made as a governor didn’t lead to another other job offers.
1: Old pal Peter King of Sports Illustrated picks the Falcons as a wild-card team (very plausible) but Minnesota to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. I hate it when Peter gets off his meds.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
