All-time great had his day, time to retire
NEW YORK – The old sports adage is “You can’t beat father time”.
For John Smoltz last night, a man who is trying to gain one last shot of professional glory in a game where he has been one of the all time greats, it is becoming obvious that his athletic clock is reaching midnight.
He was able to hold it off for three innings, only allowing one run on a homerun by Johnny Damon. Smoltz’s fastball was no longer hitting 96 MPH and the slider and split finger not having the same bite as it did before.
As his prior outings have shown, it was only going to be a matter of time before the Yankees lined him up and started hitting around. Other pitchers at his age have been able to get by on guile and intelligence as compensation for not being able to miss bats and blow hitters away. Smoltz has never had to deal with such a problem until now. With no answers, the Yankee offense was set to erupt and nothing he could do to stop it.
This was the aging right-hander’s fourth inning tally: Double, single, walk, homerun, fly out, single, double, intentional walk.
Good night.
It was like an avalanche, and Red Sox Manager Terry Francona had to get him out there to prevent further embarrassment. Think of watching Willie Mays in his final days with the Mets in center field, Brett Favre last year with the Jets having no arm or legs, and Muhammad Ali being pounded by Larry Holmes, unable to muster any fight and showing deteriorating skills to where it became difficult to watch.
He had his day, but now the sun was setting. No longer did he resemble the same pitcher he used to be. 3 1/3 innings of nine hits and eight runs later over 92 pitches was all he could muster. This wasn’t just one bad performance; it continued a string of bad outings since returning in June for the Old Towne Team. Only two pitchers in the American League have qualified to pitch worse than he has since coming back. One is Adam Eaton, who was released from the Orioles. The other is Chien Ming Wang, who has been shut down for the season with a shoulder injury.
One decade ago, he was one of baseball’s best pitchers and one of the generation’s greatest postseason performers.
There was a time back when I was a youngster when John Smoltz was one of the most intimidating pitchers in all of baseball. When you saw that he was pitching on any specific day, you knew that your chances of winning were slim.
If he brought his great stuff, you may as well plan for the next day.
In 1996 pitching for the Atlanta Braves, Smoltz had the best year of his career. He was 24-8 and won the Cy Young Award. In Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees, he dominated them. It was one of those “no chance nights”.
In Game 5, he pitched one the greatest games I had ever seen from a pitcher against the Yankees. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong end of a 1-0 score in that game because Andy Pettitte the greatest game of his career to give them a 3-2 lead in a series they would eventually win.
Smoltz has never has uber-dominant since that year, but he has been this generations greatest pitchers. A serious shoulder injury back in 2001 took out of the rotation, but allowed him to function as a closer. In that role, he became one of the best closers in the league. In 2005, he was able to regain his strength and made a return to the rotation where he won 44 games an averaged 222 innings per year.
Much as Dennis Eckersley was able to do in the 1980’s, he was able to make the transition from great starter to great reliever. Only Smoltz, taking it a step further, made the miraculous return to becoming a successful starter again at 37 years old.
Now at the age of 42 and coming off shoulder surgery, the Braves did not believe he had it anymore and chose to part ways with him at the end of the 2008 season. Obviously, Smoltz did not feel the same way. He left the place where he carved out a career that one day, whenever he leaves will take him to Cooperstown and headed for Boston and one last shot at glory.
Unfortunately, it has not happened. It is anyone’s guess whether he will make his next scheduled start on Tuesday against Detroit at Fenway Park. The Red Sox may recognize that he was a great pitcher back then in Atlanta, but all they know is he has done nothing since donning a Boston uniform.
With the team’s injuries mounting and ineffectiveness from three of its five starters, the Red Sox can ill-afford to punt games that he starts while they are being chased by the Texas Rangers and AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays. They are attempting to run the Yankees down, but with a few more losses this weekend, it may get to where there is only one open spot to gain entry into the postseason.
Boston is running out of time.
Smoltz’s time has run out.
NEW YORK – The old sports adage is “You can’t beat father time”.
For John Smoltz last night, a man who is trying to gain one last shot of professional glory in a game where he has been one of the all time greats, it is becoming obvious that his athletic clock is reaching midnight.
He was able to hold it off for three innings, only allowing one run on a homerun by Johnny Damon. Smoltz’s fastball was no longer hitting 96 MPH and the slider and split finger not having the same bite as it did before.
As his prior outings have shown, it was only going to be a matter of time before the Yankees lined him up and started hitting around. Other pitchers at his age have been able to get by on guile and intelligence as compensation for not being able to miss bats and blow hitters away. Smoltz has never had to deal with such a problem until now. With no answers, the Yankee offense was set to erupt and nothing he could do to stop it.
This was the aging right-hander’s fourth inning tally: Double, single, walk, homerun, fly out, single, double, intentional walk.
Good night.
It was like an avalanche, and Red Sox Manager Terry Francona had to get him out there to prevent further embarrassment. Think of watching Willie Mays in his final days with the Mets in center field, Brett Favre last year with the Jets having no arm or legs, and Muhammad Ali being pounded by Larry Holmes, unable to muster any fight and showing deteriorating skills to where it became difficult to watch.
He had his day, but now the sun was setting. No longer did he resemble the same pitcher he used to be. 3 1/3 innings of nine hits and eight runs later over 92 pitches was all he could muster. This wasn’t just one bad performance; it continued a string of bad outings since returning in June for the Old Towne Team. Only two pitchers in the American League have qualified to pitch worse than he has since coming back. One is Adam Eaton, who was released from the Orioles. The other is Chien Ming Wang, who has been shut down for the season with a shoulder injury.
One decade ago, he was one of baseball’s best pitchers and one of the generation’s greatest postseason performers.
There was a time back when I was a youngster when John Smoltz was one of the most intimidating pitchers in all of baseball. When you saw that he was pitching on any specific day, you knew that your chances of winning were slim.
If he brought his great stuff, you may as well plan for the next day.
In 1996 pitching for the Atlanta Braves, Smoltz had the best year of his career. He was 24-8 and won the Cy Young Award. In Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees, he dominated them. It was one of those “no chance nights”.
In Game 5, he pitched one the greatest games I had ever seen from a pitcher against the Yankees. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong end of a 1-0 score in that game because Andy Pettitte the greatest game of his career to give them a 3-2 lead in a series they would eventually win.
Smoltz has never has uber-dominant since that year, but he has been this generations greatest pitchers. A serious shoulder injury back in 2001 took out of the rotation, but allowed him to function as a closer. In that role, he became one of the best closers in the league. In 2005, he was able to regain his strength and made a return to the rotation where he won 44 games an averaged 222 innings per year.
Much as Dennis Eckersley was able to do in the 1980’s, he was able to make the transition from great starter to great reliever. Only Smoltz, taking it a step further, made the miraculous return to becoming a successful starter again at 37 years old.
Now at the age of 42 and coming off shoulder surgery, the Braves did not believe he had it anymore and chose to part ways with him at the end of the 2008 season. Obviously, Smoltz did not feel the same way. He left the place where he carved out a career that one day, whenever he leaves will take him to Cooperstown and headed for Boston and one last shot at glory.
Unfortunately, it has not happened. It is anyone’s guess whether he will make his next scheduled start on Tuesday against Detroit at Fenway Park. The Red Sox may recognize that he was a great pitcher back then in Atlanta, but all they know is he has done nothing since donning a Boston uniform.
With the team’s injuries mounting and ineffectiveness from three of its five starters, the Red Sox can ill-afford to punt games that he starts while they are being chased by the Texas Rangers and AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays. They are attempting to run the Yankees down, but with a few more losses this weekend, it may get to where there is only one open spot to gain entry into the postseason.
Boston is running out of time.
Smoltz’s time has run out.
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