AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2005 > September > 29 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USMazzone the backbone in the background
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
We say, “14 in a row,� and we think, “John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox.� A Hall of Fame GM finds the players for a Hall of Fame manager to turn into a functioning and seamless whole. We ask, “How do the Braves keep winning?� Well, we figure, that’s it.
Actually, that’s 66.7 percent of it.
Given that ballpark estimates hold that pitching is between 75 and 90 percent of baseball, we need to add a name and thereby render the great managerial pairing a triumvirate. If pitching is the key to baseball — and we all know it is — then Leo Mazzone merits at least 33.3 percent of the credit for these 14 in a row. He’s the third leg of the tripod that has served as the greatest foundation the grand old game has seen.
Ten days ago, ESPN.com ran a story in which Jeff Merron posted that Mazzone is the best assistant coach in any sport ever. As outlandish as such a claim might sound — what, you’re wondering, about Mickey Andrews? Bill Guthridge? Jim Harrick Jr.? — it’s an argument that can be made and substantiated. The Braves have built themselves on pitching and their pitching coach has a particular (some would say peculiar) method of instruction. This method has yielded results with talents great and small, tarnished and freshly minted.
The 2005 Braves have a middling ERA — 10th-best in the big leagues — by this team’s exalted standards, but it’s a wonder these pitchers have done this well. Every starter has been hurt and the bullpen has been patchy and too many rookies have been rushed to the front (Joey Devine in particular), and still these pitchers have held up their end. Come what may, the Braves’ pitchers always do. The 2004 staff led the majors in ERA without a No. 1 starter. It is at such times that Mazzone has given lie to the label that some in baseball have attached to him: Leo Mazzone, the luckiest man since Ringo Starr.
Detractors say that anyone could look clever with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine headlining his rotation, and it’s true that Maddux and Glavine are as close to self-taught as any pitchers could be. But somebody had to keep them healthy. The Mazzone mantra: “Your horses have to go to the post.� Maddux and Glavine did without fail, and whole years have passed without any Braves starter missing significant time. When three members of the rotation were ailing four months back, it only served to remind us how fragile arms really are and how rare it has been, over these last 15 seasons, for even one Braves starter to come up achy.
For sake of this discussion, let’s forget Maddux and Glavine. Let’s focus instead on the reclamation Mazzone has done with John Burkett and Chris Hammond and Jaret Wright and now Jorge Sosa. Let’s ask how many of his pitchers have gotten appreciably better elsewhere. (The answer is one: Jason Schmidt. It’s two if you count either Jason Marquis or Odalis Perez, which I don’t.) Let’s note the number of Braves pitchers who have fizzled when separated from Mazzone’s care. (Think of David Nied, Kent Mercker, Damian Moss and the once-wondrous Steve Avery.)
From 1992 through 2004, the Braves ranked either first or second in ERA among big-league teams every season but one. Even Ringo Starr didn’t get lucky for that long. Yeah, Leo Mazzone makes an odd paradigm — he tells the worst jokes and laughs really hard at them — but he has strung together a run of coaching excellence the likes of which we haven’t seen before and won’t see again. He has won big when he had the horses, won big when he didn’t. As smart as Schuerholz and Cox are, the little man rocking back and forth has made them seem that much smarter.
Permalink | Comments (20) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Mark Bradley
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By geechee
September 30, 2005 03:40 AM | Link to this
Just one example of why they called him Mad Dog:
[Maddux] “Leo, you haven’t been out to the mound to see me for a couple of months.�
[Mazzone] “Well, there’s nothing going on.�
[Maddux] “OK, I’ll look in during the sixth inning and you come out and pay me a visit. Sometimes it gets lonely out there. I need somebody to talk to other than the catcher.�
[Mazzone] “So I went out, just to visit.�
By Judy
September 30, 2005 09:11 AM | Link to this
Speaking of Glavine…wonder what he’s thinking? He pitched last night to get his own record to .500 and the Mets will finish at .500 and close to the bottom again. He makes more in two months than I did in 31 years of teaching and has moved on, or should I say down, to a lower level of competiton. He won’t win 300 games, he won’t make the playoffs anymore, he isn’t enjoying the commardarie that he had here, and he’s missing two front teeth. Sometimes it’s all about the money but I think this is a case of money not buyng happiness. Big mistake to leave here, Mr. Glavine, your bed is made of gold, but it’s empty. I hope the Braves keep pounding hits off him every time they face him.
By 59bulldawg
September 30, 2005 09:30 AM | Link to this
Mark, you’re right on! Leo deserves every bit of the credit and praise for 14 straight. How many washed-up pitchers have come here and prospered under Leo’s coaching only to repay the Braves by leaving the next year and sinking back into mediocrity with another team? This man is a special talent and he will one day be in the Hall of Fame. Thanks Leo for a job well done!
By lewis
September 30, 2005 09:57 AM | Link to this
Judy,you have no insight into Glavine’s life he may or may not win 300 games,that has not been determined yet.If your are disillusioned about the salary you received while teaching and the money Glavine makes in comparison that’s tough, you should have chosen a more lucrative profession.Glavine has not pitched here since 2002,I’m sure he has moved on,while don’t you try the same.
By Misty
September 30, 2005 11:41 AM | Link to this
Mark, I have just read your article about your recent visit to Starkville. I was suprised with your opinion of are town and “southern hospitality”. People hold doors open for people and say good morning to people we see on the streets of downtown starkville (even if we don’t know them). I don’t believe you can say that about your over rated, over crowded city. See it is call “Southern Hospitality” something that you are not farmiliar with. Do not feel pity on us we fee pity on you for not taken in our hospitality and enjoying your stay. Speaking for all us “Bulldogs” here in this little town DON’T COME BACK! It is sad that you are a journalist and you can voice your opinion the way you do about things that don’t matter when there is so much to be thankful for in these times. May God bless you!
By RonnE
September 30, 2005 12:45 PM | Link to this
Praise is cheap; look to the accomplishment itself to determine true worth. Not only is Leo a wizard, the other teams are now concerned whenever the Braves offer a pitcher as trade-bait. Seems the appraisal of potential success from the mound continues to leave those others wondering if they’re about to be had.
By Bob
September 30, 2005 02:59 PM | Link to this
Mark: I read your Starkville article too. I am an MSU alumnus who currently lives in Atlanta, and I was not amused by your work. Starkville might not be as exciting as Atlanta, but that is no reason to go on a childish tirade (that had little to do with football). We are all very proud that you live in the big city. Please do not tell us more.
By truth
September 30, 2005 06:24 PM | Link to this
Mark Bradley,
Basically, you suck.
By john
September 30, 2005 08:29 PM | Link to this
Lewis, who cares if Glavine wins 300 games? He is a New Yok Metropolitan, I hope he loses 300 games. I think Judy put it best with the gold bed analogy. He was a good pitcher here, he is an average one there. Maybe he too is another who benefited from Mazzone (more than we thought). I believe that her point about his salary was that he already had more than enough money and had no need for an increase (and wasn’t worth it). She is doing a job that is highly underpaid and simply pointed out how overpaid athletes are. Don’t stick up for Glavine, he deserves what he is getting by leaving, the Mets are a rival-the most hated team that Atlanta plays, it was a poor move by MR. Glavine and I hope it costs him a spot in the Hall of Fame. I hope he gets over his decision. (while don’t you do the same?)
By lewis
September 30, 2005 11:46 PM | Link to this
John,I personally don’t care whether Glavine wins 300 games or not as long as the Braves win their division.Judy,like yourself and myself probably earns what ever the market allows her to earn.She and you both need to quit whining,Glavine plays for the Mets by choice- so what the Braves have done fine.It’s the small minded,petty people like the two of you who need to get over your bitterness and childish attitudes.I do not care how much money Glavine makes and absolutely NO ONE CARES about what Judy makes nor your drivel!
By Larry M
September 30, 2005 11:54 PM | Link to this
John,Judy both of your blogs are pathetic.If your lives are so shallow that all you can do is be ANTI-FAN the Braves sure as hell don’t need you.Root for the Braves during the playoffs, you can actually worry about the Mets and Glavine if they ever pose a threat.Get a life.
By Michael
October 1, 2005 10:26 AM | Link to this
All considerations of what impact signing Tom Glavine would have had on the rest of the roster aside (i.e., no Tim Hudson). I would sure love to have the only pitched who ever won a world series clincher for the Atlanta Braves right now.
By Joe Roman
October 1, 2005 12:07 PM | Link to this
Maybe sports commentators are overly cautious about offending Christian fundamentalists by using the term trinity. Still, the Braves braintrust is a trinity. Examples of his handiwork are everywhere in baseball. In addition to John and Bobby, an argument could also be made that Leo is the best pitching coach-EVER. What are the odds of three such amazing talents coming together for one franchise? We Atlanta Braves baseball fans are living in a unique moment in Baseball history. “The luckiest people of the face of the earth”? It’s us!
By nalin
October 1, 2005 01:07 PM | Link to this
John and Judy:
You two need to get a life; Glavine did what any one of us would do in that situation- he did what he thought was best for himself and his family. People like you should learn not to resent someone else’s success just because you are stuck with a miserable life.
By braves fan
October 1, 2005 02:20 PM | Link to this
All the blogs posted pointing out the miserable postings from John&Judy are correct. They indeed are two miserable people,who on their best day all they can hope for is that other people will wallow in misery with them. HOW PATHETIC!
By geechee
October 2, 2005 09:02 PM | Link to this
John& Judy, in backing up Lewis’ posts, I won’t call you stupid because I don’t know you but, I will say that you are both ignorant of the facts. Bobby Cox is the best manager in the history of the game and there would not have been near 14 straight without him but, at the same time I guarantee you, if you sat down and talked to Bobby about it, he’d tell you without Tommy Glavine he never would have gotten close to 14 and he quite possibly may never have gotten off the ground. The column was about Leo, why use it to try and trample TG.
Both of y’alls posts scream out that you obviously jumped on the band wagon after it was half way down the road. The front office aside, Tom Glavine is absolutely the second biggest reason that the Braves got to 14. His importance to the dynasty that has been ongoing can in no way be overstated.
Ask Chipper, ask Pendleton, ask Ted, ask Hank, ask anyone even remotely involved with the Braves in the last decade and see what they have to say about your posts. You may not have understood this because he was so quiet but TG was the leader of that team on and off of the field.
You obviously know nothing at all about Tom Glavine the man. He is one of the most respected men in sports and near the top in baseball. It is quite possible that he almost single handedly prevented the last work stoppage in baseball a few years back.
Baseball is a business #1. It was not formed to bring you joy. It was formed to make money from entertainment. If Ted still called the shots, TG would never have been put in the position of having to leave.
You both seem to have that conservative mean streak in your posts yet you both also seam to have a streak of green and are envious of the wealthy, if the two of you both voted for Bush, I can see why this nation is collapsing around us.
By geechee
October 2, 2005 09:28 PM | Link to this
To truth,
Basically, you lie.
Change your name.
By geechee
October 2, 2005 11:22 PM | Link to this
I know, I know, I misspelled seem. Thinking about TG had me thinking seams.
After submitting my post Judy, I read yours again. In your short post you showed stupidity, ignorance, envy, jealousy, a total disregard for the facts, contempt, and dishonesty.
I reflected on the fact that you were a school teacher and thought; there could be Sonny’s answer to why Georgia’s public schools are ranked near the bottom.
By braves fan
October 3, 2005 12:11 AM | Link to this
geechee your comments are spot on.
By dirk
October 3, 2005 04:25 PM | Link to this
Leo is probally the best pitching coach ever, but im all about results in the playoffs. Im tired of seeing my braves choke at the end. I hunger for another world championship When glavine was here he perform. I love the braves and I just want another championship