Sports Page Atlanta

The pitcher’s duel we were promised between John Smoltz and Johan Santana lived up to its billing on Sunday, as Smoltz led the Braves to a 3-1 win over the Mets, finishing off the short, two-game sweep. Smoltz went five innings, giving up zero runs and striking out six, en route to his first victory of the year. Smoltz’ ailing shoulder did stiffen up a bit after the fifth, and the veteran pulled himself out of the game strictly as a precautionary measure. He is not expected to miss his next start.

Leading 1-0 in the bottom of the eighth, Mark Teixeira took Mets’ RP Aaron Heilman deep for a two-run shot, giving the Braves a little insurance.which they would need. In the top of the 9th, Rafael Soriano had already given up one run, and had two on and two outs with the go-ahead run at the plate. Brian Schneider ripped a ball down the first base line. Teixeira, who was a gold glove 1B in the AL with the Rangers, laid out to prevent the game-tying double, and flipped it to Soriano covering, to seal the win.

With the win, the Braves move into a first place tie in the NL East after the first week of play (as I predicted), and will embark on a 10-day road trip that takes them to Colorado, Washington, D.C., and Florida.
photo credit: bangart

Jair Jurrjens pitched well in his Braves debut last night. The rookie right-hander threw 5 1/3 innings, allowing just 2 runs en route to a win.

Who knows how he will finish his rookie campaign? Here is how two current Braves did their first year.

• John Smoltz: 1988 (2-7 5.48 era)
• Tom Glavine: 1988 (7-17 4.56 era)

John Smoltz is now officially going on the disabled list, and it got me thinking a little bit. Sure, the word coming from the Braves is that Smoltz won’t miss a start…but is there more to it than that? Smoltz developed his own Spring Training regiment this year, pitching the majority of the time on the back fields and in side sessions. This, coming off of a year in which, the shoulder injury that is nagging him presently, had put him on the disabled list for about a month, and bothered him seemingly all season.

Connecting the dots a bit, the consummate pessimist in me is worried. Make no mistake, this is a BIG deal for the 2008 Braves. And, those of you that aren’t concerned, should be. Smoltz is a fighter. He takes the ball every fifth day, and battles through everything. If it is enough of an injury to put him on the DL, it says a lot. Will he be fine in 15 days and return to the form that we have seen time and time again? It’s possible. Maybe even probable. However, the pattern of nagging injuries to the aging ace of the Braves staff is awfully concerning. What say you SportsPage Atlanta readers?
photo credit: sluggerwv

With John Smoltz starting the season on the DL, the Atlanta Braves announced that Tim Hudson will be the 2008 game one starter. This will be the 2nd time Hudson has started the first game of the season for the Braves and it will be the 5th time he has done that in his career.

But Huddy has a long way to go if he wants the MLB record in that category. Here are the career leaders for most opening day starts…

Tom Seaver - 16

Steve Carlton - 14

Walter Johnson - 14

Cy Young - 14

Jack Morris - 14

Randy Johnson - 14

*** Walter Johnson holds the record for most opening day wins. The Big Train won the opening game 9 times in his career.

The shoulder tightness that caused John Smoltz to miss his scheduled start on Friday, will now, most likely, land him on the DL to begin the 2008 baseball season. But, that’s not all bad news for the Atlanta Braves. Bobby Cox feels that the timing is perfect, as he’d rather see Smoltz miss the first week or two than go down in the middle of the season.

There’s also another good reason for the Braves to be happy. With a few younger players out of minor league options, placing Smoltz on the DL will allow the Braves to carry one of them on the roster, protecting him from having to make it through the waiver process. The protection will only last until Smoltz returns from the DL, but that could give the Braves enough extra time to mull things over and even contemplate a trade.

If Smoltz lands on the 15-day DL, the Braves would plan to bring him back to start April 6 in a Sunday afternoon home game against the New York Mets. That’s the first date the Braves would need a fifth starter, because of an April 1 off day.

As DL stints go, Smoltz’s temporary absence would be far easier to absorb now than at midseason. “It’s perfect,” manager Bobby Cox said of the timing.

A Smoltz DL stint could be backdated up to nine days into spring training, provided he doesn’t pitch in a Grapefruit League game in that period. If he pitches later this week, it will be in a simulated or minor league game.

photo credit: jspatchwork

As Barrett Sallee mentioned in his article, John Smoltz missed his start due to tightness in his right shoulder. The 8-time All-Star has a better than .500 record in every month, but some months are better than others. Of the 207 career wins by John Smoltz only 29 have happened in the month of April.

Here is a breakdown of each month in his outstanding career…

• April: 29-24
• May: 38-24
• June: 35-30
• July: 34-19
• August: 40-25
• September: 27-23
• October: 4-0 (19-4 including postseason)

Some might say his best April was in 1999 when he went 4-0 with a 1.51 ERA, but then again it is hard to beat his April when he was a closer in 2003 when he had 10 saves and a 0.00 ERA.

According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, John Smoltz was scratched from his scheduled start today in the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex versus the Cleveland Indians with tightness in his right shoulder. The injury could be severe enough to land him on the 15-DL, which would mean that he would miss at least one week of the regular season on top of the time missed in spring training. Jeff Bennett made the spot start in favor of Smoltz today for the Braves.
photo credit: sluggerwv

John Smoltz and Rafael Soriano both made their spring debuts on Saturday and neither were overpowering in an 11-10 loss to Tampa Bay.

Smoltz pitched 4.2 innings and gave up 3 earned runs while striking out four and walking two.

“All and all, I’m very satisfied,” said Smoltz, who threw 33 strikes in 46 pitches in four innings, before 12 balls in a 22-pitch fifth. “I threw strikes all day until I didn’t get a couple of close calls and walked those guys.”

Before the fifth, Smoltz had only allowed two singles.

“Smoltz was really good,” said Cox, who replaced him after Carlos Pena’s two-run homer, a fly aided by both the elements and Josh Anderson, the left fielder who leaped and had the ball bounce off his glove and over the fence.

Soriano pitched a complete inning and gave up two hits and didn’t strike out or walk anyone.

Closer Rafael Soriano also made his Grapefruit League debut Saturday, allowing consecutive singles to begin the sixth inning against Tampa Bay before retiring the next three on a popup, line out to right and fly to center.

“Alright for the first time out,” Cox said of Soriano, who had been sidelined by a stomach virus early and a sore pitching elbow lately.

The right-hander threw 16 strikes in 23 pitches, and Cox was pleased Soriano threw hard (94 mph on two pitches) but didn’t try to throw as hard as he could.

We’ve known all week that Rafael Soriano was scheduled to appear at some point, but now we know for sure, that it’ll be Saturday. Dave O’Brien wrote on his blog today that Smoltz and Soriano will make their spring debuts together, tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we have a Rafael Soriano appearance on the docket. Yes, release the pigeons, for the Braves closer is set to make his Grapefruit League debut tomorrow. He’s not pitched all spring because of a sore elbow (and a stomach virus of some kind).

That means Soriano and Smoltz will likely make their spring debuts in the same game, assuming Soriano pitches in the home split-squad game vs. Tampa Bay instead of the road game against Houston. (Jair Jurrjens is scheduled to start against the ‘Stros.)