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Thursday, February 1, 2007
Braves’ bullpen rebuilt as fireproof
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
If you have ever seen what happens when a plastic fork is thrown into a campfire, it’s easy to recall the fortunes of Braves relievers last season. Like the fork, the pitcher would soften, bend, contort into some painful, sickly position and eventually melt down into an indecipherable blob.
The Braves, possibly amid rain, ice and freezing temperatures, will open a pitching camp Friday at Turner Field. The weather, we presume, will not serve as an omen for the upcoming season. No longer is the bullpen composed of plastic utensils. Or blobs.
“It’s going to be an exciting time,” Roger McDowell, the Braves’ pitching coach, said Thursday. “Or maybe I should say it won’t be exciting.”
As in “exciting” like last year?
“Enough said.”
Last season the Braves lost a division and finished under .500 (79-83) for the first time since 1990. They finished 18 games behind the New York Mets.
The bullpen blew 29 (of 67) save opportunities - the second-most in the majors behind only Kansas City (31), which is to assume Kansas City is in the majors.
The Mets blew 15 saves.
Do the math. There’s a race buried in the difference.
Disaster started when the Braves came to this same pitching camp and the ensuing spring training with Chris Reitsma as their closer. The appointment was by default. General manager John Schuerholz had tried but failed to sign anybody else, or at least anybody worthy.
Unlike Dan Kolb, Reitsma said all the right things. Like Kolb, he just wasn’t very good.
Reitsma is long gone. So are several others. There remains only a burnt smell around the mound that may linger until this season’s potential plays out.
Schuerholz re-signed Bob Wickman — who’ll turn 38 Tuesday — an unlikely savior who recorded 18 saves in 19 chances after being acquired from Cleveland in July.
He then made two other deals: Horacio Ramirez, a too-often-injured starter, was sent to Seattle for probable setup man Rafael Soriano, who had 65 strikeouts in 60 innings last season. First baseman Adam LaRoche, who was coveted by other teams but not viewed as a must-keep by the Braves, was dealt to Pittsburgh for Mike Gonzalez.
For most of last season, the Braves didn’t have one closer. Now they have two. Gonzalez had 24 saves with the Pirates - and botched none. He also had 64 strikeouts in 54 innings.
And you wonder why McDowell is excited. Or not excited. See, while starting rotations are built from one to five, bullpens are built from the backside forward. The Braves’ bullpen might have just gone from the punch line to the difference.
Last season, McDowell too often got dumped on. When the pitching staff sank to 20th in the majors with an ERA of 4.60, blind loyalists to the departed Leo Mazzone were quick to say it was McDowell’s fault.
This might be time to point out that while the Braves ranked 20th, Baltimore — Mazzone’s new team — ranked 29th with a 5.35 ERA. The Orioles allowed the most homers (216) and second-most earned runs (843).
Gee. Could it be that it’s more about the players than the coach?
“As a coach, you’re obviously not the one out there competing,” said McDowell, who split time as a setup man and closer during his 12-year career. “But while I can’t physically go out there for them, I can help prepare them.”
Then again, when you hand a box of Hamburger Helper to the chef, you’re going to be limited. McDowell may have been new last season, but even he sensed there might be problems.
“I guess,” he said. “But I’m just a positive person, so I thought things might work themselves out. But it didn’t happen that way. That said, we also got an indication from guys in terms of what they’re capable of doing, and in some situations what they’re not capable of.”
McDowell says he will feel “more comfortable” this season. He cited having had a year with the Braves’ returning pitchers. But his comfort might be less about those returning than those who have been added — and those who are gone.
Permalink | Comments (57) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Jeff Schultz
Similarities of coaches go beyond skin deep
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Miami — Nothing is clearer in the spotlight of Super Bowl XLI than the fact that Lovie Smith is Tony Dungy, and Tony Dungy is Lovie Smith.
The beneficiary of such a thing is the NFL and society. We’re all changed forever through the classy and unprecedented ways of Smith and Dungy (or Dungy and Smith, if you prefer) during their search this week for a world championship.
More specifically, courtesy of these kindred souls, it just became more difficult for anybody to say publicly or privately that this person or that one shouldn’t be hired as a boss because of … Yes, because of that, if you’re thinking about the darkness of their skin, but also because of this: the softness of their voices. In addition to sitting only a couple of days away from serving as the first blacks ever to coach in a Super Bowl, Smith and Dungy are making it acceptable for folks to become leaders who lack the desire to combine a scream with a scowl.
Let’s start with Smith, the famously mellow coach of the Chicago Bears. You know he is showing his version of vintage Dick Butkus in rage when, well, I’ll defer to defensive tackle Tank Johnson. “You look up, and you see a couple of extra wrinkles on his forehead,” said Johnson, with a straight face. As for Dungy, another master of calmness while coaching the Indianapolis Colts, the situation is totally different. Said defensive tackle Montae Reagor, “He’s really mad about something if you hear him repeat the same sentence twice.”
Other than that, Smith and Dungy are exactly the same when it comes to just about everything else. Good. For everybody. Although Smith and Dungy work in a profession that usually chews up the meek and spits them out, they both are into serenity so much that they’ve forgotten how to shout. They both regularly practice the Christian principles that they preach. They both talk of family before football. They both embrace their roles as 21st century Jackie Robinsons in football regarding that black coaching thing and the upcoming Super Bowl.
They are friends. They are the closest of friends.
During the NFL season, they speak at least every Monday. It’s a time when the 51-year-old Dungy shares everything from stories to X’s and O’s to prayers with the now-48-year-old guy that he hired as linebackers coach in 1996, when Dungy was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their conversations haven’t stopped, even though both Smith and Dungy are in pursuit of the hoisting of the same trophy by late Sunday.
“Tony and I have had a chance to talk a few times this week, and we do have a special relationship that will last for a lifetime as far as I’m concerned,” said Smith on Thursday, from the Bears’ team hotel. Three days ago, they met behind closed doors at Dolphin Stadium, away from the frenzied Media Day sessions for both teams. They didn’t swap game plans, by the way. Smith smiled, saying, “It’s just like playing a basketball game and looking to beat your brother.”
Dungy has expressed similar thoughts during the week. Then the mentor turned philosophical about what all of this means for his pupil, himself and mankind overall. “Lovie and I are just proof of the results of what can happen when people get an opportunity,” said Dungy, shunned for more than a decade in search of an NFL head coaching job until he was hired by the Buccaneers in 1996. “It’s been so difficult for African-Americans in a lot of venues just to get opportunities.”
Whatever the case, the Super Bowl has Dungy and Smith, and Dungy and Smith always will have each other. “Pretty much, they are two peas in the same pod,” said Anthony McFarland, the Colts defensive tackle who should know. Eight years ago, McFarland played for the Buccaneers, when Dungy and Smith were there.
“Both guys try to do things the right way, and both have exactly the same personalities,” McFarland said. “Both enjoy the game of football. Both want to do it the right way, and that’s being straightforward, being upfront, being honest with the guys. Not only on the field, but off the field.”
McFarland forgot something: Both wish to make the other guy’s team second best on Sunday.
Permalink | | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Terence Moore
Rating the NCAA regionals
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Every Friday between now and the end of the regular season, we ll look at who’s up, who’s down and what you should be watching as the countdown continues to the Final Four in Atlanta.
If the season ended today, here’s what the top four seeds in each region should look like:
SAN ANTONIO
1: Florida
2: Oregon
3: Duke
4: Memphis
SAN JOSE
1: UCLA
2: Ohio State
3: Texas A&M
4: Air Force
EAST RUTHERFORD
1: North Carolina
2: Pittsburgh
3: Oklahoma State
4: Indiana
ST. LOUIS
1: Wisconsin
2: Kansas
3: Marquette
4: Butler
RISING
New Mexico State
March Madness in Atlanta:
Check out the AJC’s Final Four pageThe Aggies are 18-4 and tied for the WAC lead with Nevada, a team they beat last month. The NMSU coach is Reggie Theus, who as an NBA player was considered a coach-killer. (He lasted one disruptive season with the Hawks.) Theus coached the Las Vegas Slam in the minor-league ABA before landing at Louisville as Rick Pitino’s assistant. Known as “Rush Street Reggie” as a flashy Chicago Bulls player, Theus is 34-18 since taking over in less-fashionable Las Cruces.
FALLING
Syracuse
Whatever magic fell on Syracuse during last season’s run to the Big East tournament title departed with Gerry McNamara. The Orange have lost seven of their past 15 games and fallen to eighth place in the conference. In the span of 48 hours, Syracuse didn’t score a basket over 9 1/2 minutes in blowing a 14-point lead at Louisville and then yielded 61 first-half points in losing to Notre Dame at the Carrier Dome.
Kevin Kruger, UNLV guard
Actually, you know the name, and you definitely know the face. Kevin Kruger, a senior for UNLV, plays for his dad Lon, who once coached the Atlanta Hawks and who, in earlier stints at Florida and Illinois, had his lookalike son beside him on the bench. Kevin Kruger just returned after missing three weeks with a thigh bruise, and he’s the leading assist-maker and third-leading scorer for a 19-4 team that’s tied with Air Force atop the Mountain West.
WHAT WE’LL BE WATCHING
OHIO STATE AT MICHIGAN STATE
4 p.m. Saturday, CBS
Some of us watched this game last week, and a lot of us turned it off when the Buckeyes led 43-23 at the half. What we missed: The Spartans’ Drew Neitzel (left) scoring 24 second-half points to pull Michigan State within one, whereupon Ohio State coach Thad Matta chose to double-team the guard and make someone else - Maurice Joseph - take and miss what would have been the game-winning trey.
MID-MAJOR OF THE WEEK
Virginia Commonwealth
The Rams had won 18 of 19 before losing at Hofstra on Wednesday, propelling them to the top of the suddenly chic Colonial Athletic Association. (George Mason came thundering out of the CAA, in case you’ve forgotten.) VCU is coached by Anthony Grant, who’s in his first season after spending 10 years as Billy Donovan’s assistant at Florida.
FUN WITH NUMBERS
The Florida Gators are the reigning national champs and have been No. 1 in the polls the past three weeks, yet the NCAA’s official RPI ratings had them No. 29 last week and No. 19 this week. Ohio State, which Florida beat by 26 points, is No. 8. Kentucky, which has lost five games to Florida’s two, is No. 7. Perhaps Urban Meyer needs to turn his considerable lobbying skills toward computers.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
Vinatieri gives Colts a leg up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
I could see the Bears getting ahead.
I could see the defense making an early big play — akin to Ty Law’s interception that put the Patriots ahead of the vastly favored Rams in 2002 — and giving the massive underdogs reason to believe.
I could see that defense and the Bears’ ground game controlling the clock and keeping Peyton Manning off the field.
I could see Rex Grossman, who fits nobody’s image of a championship quarterback, making just enough key throws to move the chains — the way he did in the NFC title game, the way Trent Dilfer did for the Ravens against the Giants in 2001.
I could see the Colts’ statistically lousy run defense, which hasn’t hurt them yet in the postseason, hurting them big-time against a power-running team like the Bears.
I could see the Colts thinking they’d already won their Super Bowl by beating the Patriots and then, too late, finding out they hadn’t.
I could see Peyton getting antsy again.
I could see all of the above happening, but you know what I simply can’t see? Adam Vinatieri, the greatest kicker ever, missing the winning field goal in a game that will be decided by a field goal.
Colts 20, Bears 17.
Permalink | Comments (17) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
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