Here Smoltz Comes To Save The Day

In a season that’s seen the young studs in the Sox rotation look shaky while the old workhorse Tim Wakefield has stepped up to fill the ace role more often than not, spotting uber-veteran hurler John Smoltz riding in on the Sox horizon is cause for some major celebration.

Smoltz made his longest rehab start yet on Sunday with the Greenville Drive – going 73 pitches over 5 innings, and allowing 1 run on four hits with 6 strikeouts. He closed out his appearance by retiring the last seven batters in a row– and the last three batters with K’s.

Every time Smoltz has pitched in rehab, the fans have turned out in droves. Each of the games he pitched in rehab at Augusta, Ga. (on May 21st for the Drive), Manchester, N.H. (on May 27th for the Sea Dogs) and then yesterday in Greenville set an attendance record for that ballpark. Sounds like those folks are almost as excited to see him pitch in the minors as Sox fans are to see him pitch in Boston.

And Smoltz appears to be enjoying himself completely, maybe even more than the star-struck minor leaguers he’s sharing the ball field and locker room with.

Even after his appearance in Augusta you could tell Smoltz was acting more like 22 not 42. There were reports he rented out a local restraunt for the Greenville Drive for before and after game spreads and you could just tell he really appreciated the crowd that showed up in Augusta. In other words, he was a kid again enjoying playing baseball.

Smoltz is still on target to make his return to the big boy club by mid-June. He told ESPN he’ll join the Red Sox in Detroit this week, and then make another rehab start or two for Pawtucket before being activated from the DL. And although that means he could be ready to make his first start the weekend of June 19-21 when the Atlanta Braves are in town, Smoltz actively hopes he does not make a return facing his former ballclub.

Not surprisingly, many Braves fans are still attached to Smoltz – and some still haven’t come to terms with the idea of seeing him pitch in a different team’s uniform. For Smoltz, the decision to play for the Sox was fairly simple… he just wants to play ball.

“When people saw what happened five months ago, they all had their answers as to why it happened,” Smoltz said of leaving the Braves. “They said, ‘Oh, the Braves aren’t going to win, so he doesn’t want to be there,’ or whatever it was they came up with. You know what’s amazing about it all? I thought, why, after 20 years, with my reputation, would I decide to do something different when I had chances to do something different about four or five times previous to that?

“The reason is, simply put, it wasn’t a flexible situation to work out in Atlanta and it was a very flexible situation to work out in Boston; the bottom line is, someone’s going to be right – it’s either going to be Atlanta or it’s going to be me. I’ve been involved in a lot of no-win situations in my life and I’ve survived it. Right now, I’m doing this because I think I can still do it, I’m perfectly content with what transpired, how it all worked out, and now, if it continues to work out, I might have a chance to pitch in the postseason again.”

I’d think we’d all be happy to see John Smoltz get a ring in a Red Sox uniform.