Smoltz accepts his bullpen role

Relief in his present, furure

Associated Press
Published Saturday, March 01, 2003

KISSIMMEE -- John Smoltz has finally accepted his fate: Yes, he'll probably be a closer for the rest of his career.

"After saving 55 games, I really don't have much choice," he said glumly.

Typical Smoltz. He always sounds a bit anguished, even in the best of times.

Actually, Smoltz should be downright giddy after his remarkable 2002 season, when he set an NL record with 55 saves in his first full season as a closer.

He set the bar so high that, of course, he sees no prospect of every clearing it again.

"No way," Smoltz said, shaking his head. "You can always dream of doing it again, but that's not going to happen. I may not get 40 this year. You can't control the numbers."

No matter. The 35-year-old Smoltz already is part of an exclusive club, joining Dennis Eckersley as the only pitchers to have both 20-win and 50-save seasons on their resume.

"It's hard to imagine that I hold the team record for wins and the team record for saves in a season," Smoltz said. "That's pretty amazing."

Smoltz spent most of his career as a starter, the highlight coming in 1996 when he went 24-8 -- an Atlanta record for wins -- and captured the NL Cy Young Award. He also is the winningest pitcher in postseason history, going 14-4 during Atlanta's run of 11 straight division titles.

"You'll never hear me say anything cocky or outlandish, but I always thought if I was starting Game 1 in the playoffs, then we were going to be ahead in that series 1-0," Smoltz said.

Smoltz sticks to the belief that a closer can't affect a playoff series the way a starter does.

He points to the last two seasons. Both times, he was the last guy to pitch for Atlanta in the playoffs. Both times, it didn't matter because his team already was behind. There was nothing he could do as the Braves lost to Arizona in the 2001 NL championship series, then to San Francisco in the opening round last year. He didn't even get a save in either series -- the opportunity never came up.

Nevertheless, the Braves have no plans to change course. Smoltz was plagued by elbow problems throughout his career, so the belief is that fewer innings will mean a longer career.

"He's in exactly the proper role," general manager John Schuerholz said. "If we could make him a starter and a reliever at the same time, that's about the only thing that would be even better."

Smoltz got off to a shaky start in his new role last year. In the first week of the season, he surrendered eight runs in two-thirds of an inning to the New York Mets. Not surprisingly, the local newspaper had a derogatory headline on the front of its sports section the next morning.

While Smoltz claims he doesn't pay attention to the media, he spent the rest of the year pitching with a healthy dose of motivation.

"I'd be a liar if I told you it wasn't a factor," Smoltz said.

He blew only four saves all year, and remembers each of them down to who was hitting, the count and where the deciding hit landed. In his mind, he was four pitches away from having a perfect season.

"My only goal is to make sure I don't blow two games in a row," he said. "You can get into a bad streak in a hurry."

Smoltz is the last remaining player from Atlanta's 1991 team, which started the streak of division titles by going from worst to first.

Tom Glavine also was part of that team, but he broke up one of baseball's most enduring duos by signing with the New York Mets in the offseason. Smoltz always thought they would end their careers in the same uniform.

"Aside from the professionalism Tom showed, we always had a lot of fun off the field," Smoltz said. "I could always count on him to play golf."

This spring, Smoltz seems to be going out of his way to spend time with each clubhouse clique. He kids around with the veterans, encourages the rookies, wanders into the area where the Latin players congregate.

"I'm the last guy standing," Smoltz said. "Of course, I'm going to be expected to shoulder more responsibility."

Greg Maddux has pitched alongside Smoltz the last 11 years. In his mind, Atlanta's closer has a big edge on most of his counterparts.

"He knows how to pitch," Maddux said. "That comes with pitching lots of innings, lots of games. He's been in every situation possible. He's accustomed to pitching 250 innings year. Over 10 years, that's 2,500 innings. How many innings do most of the other closers have? Maybe 300, 400 for their whole careers. He's that much smarter."

One thing about being a closer appeals to Smoltz. He has be to ready to pitch every day, while starters usually have four days off between appearances. That gets his competitive juices flowing.

"You're not afforded any luxury in this role," Smoltz said. "It's a constant, everyday job."

So, does he like being a closer. Smoltz ponders the question for a minute, then replies about as optimistically as his psyche will allow:

"I'm learning to like it."