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Thursday, April 13, 2006
Braves missing Mazzone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
The silence was deafening among many of the Braves pitchers when Leo Mazzone left after last season as their coach. It was disgusting.
When they did speak, the words weren’t warm and cuddly. Some mentioned his stubbornness. Others said he was intimidating. Gruff. A little volcano with a tomahawk across its chest.
In other words, Mazzone was exactly what they needed. The same goes for any pitching staff that wants to win and dominate. “I heard that I was being compared to Bobby Knight, and I thought to myself, ‘Well, heck, the last I looked he’s going into the Hall of Fame.’ That actually was one of the best compliments I could have gotten,” said Mazzone, 57, laughing over the phone Thursday from Tampa, where his Baltimore Orioles were preparing to face the Devil Rays.
Mazzone with the Orioles? That still doesn’t sound right. You can blame his departure after 14 years of evolving into the greatest pitching coach ever on his best friend managing the Orioles and a yearly salary of $500,000. That’s double what he got from the organization that he still respects, and it’s more loot than anybody gets among his peers.
The drive also is easier for an elderly couple from Westernport, Md., to Camden Yards as opposed to Turner Field. “Dad’s 83 and Mom’s 79, and they came down for the weekend series against Boston,” said Mazzone of Tony and Maxine, proud of a son who already has at least the bill of his cap in Cooperstown. “(Maryland) is my home state, and (Orioles manager) Sam Perlozzo’s father and my father coached against each other when we were kids. So there are a lot of connections. When you add the other part [money, money, money], it was a no-brainer.”
Yeah, well. He’s right.
Unfortunately.
Nothing against Roger McDowell, Mazzone’s affable replacement who has the knowledge and the personality to become good, but the Braves had somebody who already was great. Under Mazzone, the Braves spent 12 years finishing first or second in the majors in team ERA. Now, with the horrific struggles of ace Tim Hudson and the rest of a staff that entered Thursday night’s game at Turner Field against the Philadelphia Phillies allowing more than a touchdown (6.63 ERA) per game, only the Kansas City Royals and the Devil Rays had worse team ERAs.
It’s early, though. The Braves have too many gifted arms to keep from holding teams to around a field goal by the end of May. They also have Bobby Cox, baseball’s best manager ever and a noted pitching guru. Even so, contrary to those who attribute Mazzone’s success to Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, historians will cite Mazzone as a primary catalyst behind the Braves’ run of 14 consecutive trips to the playoffs and those pitchers becoming Cy Maddux, Cy Glavine and Cy Smoltz.
Only Smoltz remains from the Big Three, and even his numbers after two starts (15 hits, nine earned runs in 12 innings) are un-Leo like.
“Well,” Mazzone said, pausing, before chuckling. He was reflecting on an Orioles’ pitching staff that entered Thursday’s action with more walks (57) than anybody. “I tell you what. I’ve got all that I can handle right here,” Mazzone added. “I mean, (Wednesday night) we had a ball game where we had a young kid named Daniel Cabrera, and listen to this line score: Five innings, three hits, one run, nine walks and 10 strikeouts and 110 pitches.”
Mazzone sighed, admitting that he has two teams of the heart. While the Orioles are managed by his favorite pal in life, the Braves are managed by the guy that Mazzone ranked as a father figure during his 15 years as his pitching coach.
“I always look up on the scoreboard for ‘Atlanta,’ and, of course, you always think about Bobby (Cox), and you think about Smoltzie, and you think about (bullpen coach) Bobby Dews, and you just root like heck for them,” Mazzone said, before returning only part of his mind to the Orioles. “On a couple of balls this year, I’m thinking to myself, ‘Well, there’s an out,’ and then it’s like, ‘Uh-oh. It got through.’ When you watch the game being played, and you don’t have Rafael Furcal at shortstop or Andruw Jones in center, it’s a little different there.”
Almost as different as not having somebody rocking next to Cox and keeping those touchdowns away.
Permalink | Comments (116) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
I think…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Some days I think I like the “I think” format for Quick Hits. Other days I think I don’t. This is one of the days I think I do. So here, I think, goes:
I think the Braves will win another division title.
I think they’ll need different relievers to do it, though.
I think the Thrashers will make the playoffs by two points.
I think the Hawks will miss the playoffs by two hundred or so points.
I think Matthew Stafford will be starting by October.
I think Jeff Francoeur will be hitting by October.
I think the worst thing about every Opening Night is the traffic after the game. (And I mean looonnnggg after the game.)
I think the Hawks should make a public declaration that they will not draft anyone taller than 6-foot-4 or shorter than 6-10.
I think Marcus Williams (point guard, UConn) or LaMarcus Aldridge (center, Texas) would do nicely.
I think Roger McDowell is a nice guy in a tough spot.
I think N.C. State is having an awfully hard time finding a coach for a school that has two NCAA championships to its name.
I think this Final Four was the worst I’ve ever seen, and what made it even more deflating was that the tournament to that point had been the absolute best.
I think baseball should forget about playing up Barry Bonds’ assault on the home run record and promote the real achievement — Bobby Cox’s climb up the all-time ejection charts. (He’s closing in on Leo Durocher, who’s No. 2 behind the leader John McGraw.) I think grouchiness of an historic nature needs to be trumpeted to the heavens.
I think the thing that makes Cox the grouchiest isn’t balls and strikes but sitting in postgame traffic. To wit: He needed more than 2 1/2 hours to get from the park to his Adairsville farm after Monday’s game.
I think it’s a wonder he didn’t eject himself from his own truck.
Permalink | Comments (26) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
