Even while his successes mounted last year, John Smoltz never moved past tolerating the closer's role. He begrudgingly agreed to the job because it was his only avenue back to Atlanta, and he wrestled with forging his new identity for much of the season.
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| A year after recording 55 saves in his first season as a closer, John Smoltz leads the majors with 18.(AP) |
There were times during the transition last season when Smoltz was so dominant that you could read the perplexed looks on the faces of opposing hitters from several yards away: What if this guy ever actually enjoyed what he was doing? How miserable could he make things then?
The answer is coming now each time Smoltz touches the ball: The Braves have won a stunning 72 consecutive games in which Smoltz has pitched, dating to last June 3.
The Elias Sports Bureau has established that as a major-league record for pitching in consecutive team victories. What we want to know is, 72 wins in a row -- is Bobby Cox still in charge in Atlanta? Or did the Braves hire John Wooden?
"Unfairly, no one last year was willing to give me a year to work it out," Smoltz said the other day in San Diego. "I needed a year to assess it.
"After what I did, it wasn't a choice."
Uh, no. After setting a National League record by collecting 55 saves (in 59 opportunities, an astounding 92 percent success rate) in 2002 as a novice closer, it was pretty much safe to figure Smoltz would be back in the ninth innings.
"I think everybody expected that this was going to be easy," Smoltz said. "Everybody was like, 'You're going to be as great as fill-in-the-blank.' A lot more goes into this than my reputation, or what they think my stuff is like."
At 36, Smoltz has many of the same characteristics of another veteran pitcher who underwent a conversion late in life: Dennis Eckersley. It was Eck, according to Elias, whose record Smoltz broke long ago: Eckersley appeared in 53 consecutive winning games between Oct. 1, 1991, and Aug. 23, 1992.
Like Eckersley, Smoltz has overpowering stuff, and like Eck, spending most of his career as a starter has trained him to think and act like a pitcher, not just rear back and throw.
Smoltz and Eckersley are the only two pitchers in major-league history to have recorded at least one season of 20 or more wins and 50 or more saves.
Scouts marvel at how, little more than two years after undergoing Tommy John ligament transfer surgery, Smoltz is so overpowering that his splitter is blowing in at 92 mph this year.
Teammates marvel at how often Smoltz toys with overwhelmed hitters. He has already collected a major-league leading 18 saves this season (in 19 opportunities). His ERA is a ridiculous 1.08, and he has struck out 29 while walking only four in 25 innings.
"If you're sitting here on the bench watching him do what he's doing, it's very impressive," said Greg Maddux, the future Hall of Famer and Smoltz's former rotation-mate. "He looks as good as any closer that's been around here in a while. He's as good or better as Mark Wohlers when he was going strong. John Rocker, Eck, Eric Gagne, Trevor Hoffman... he looks like a good, solid, how-could-anybody-pitch-better-than-that closer.
"He's pitching, too, not just throwing. He's pitching, and that gives him a big edge. He's got a lot of good innings under his belt. The more you pitch, the more you learn. He has a lot of innings under his belt that have helped him learn how to close."
The wins in 72 consecutive appearances, of course, don't mean that Smoltz has earned 72 consecutive saves. He did successfully convert 27 consecutive save opportunities from last Aug. 8 through May 1, before blowing a save opportunity at Arizona on May 2. The Braves, though, came back to win 4-2.
What the streak does mean, beyond sheer numbers, is a couple of things: One, sure, at least some luck factors in that Atlanta's offense has produced on those few occasions on which Smoltz has not been able to protect a lead. But more than that, it means Smoltz has excelled not only in saving games, but in keeping damage to a minimum in games he hasn't saved.
In other words, staying steady and keeping the Braves close, rather than ever suffering a severe meltdown.
That steely determination might be the most remarkable part of his story. The one trait most often overlooked in the great ones is their sheer willpower.
"I've learned to let the game come to me instead of me trying to press the game," Smoltz said. "Obviously, I'm motivated by the amount of games we've won in a row. The selfish things -- trying to see how long I can keep it going."
Smoltz was not needed, of course, in Atlanta's 9-8, series-opening loss in Cincinnati on Tuesday night, so he and Atlanta's next opportunity to extend the streak to 73 will come Wednesday night in the Great American Ball Park.
And after that? Well, who knows? Right now, the Braves are in their customary position in first place in the NL East, their offense is more potent than it has been in several years and their revamped pitching staff is coming together.
"That's as good a Braves team as I've seen, and they've had some great ones," veteran San Diego manager Bruce Bochy said after watching the Braves wrap up a four-game sweep against the Padres on Sunday -- a series in which Smoltz collected two more saves. "Speed, power, pitching... we're facing the best team in the major leagues."
For his part, Smoltz, now a veteran of many ninth innings, says it just took time. After fighting it for part of last year, he really isn't all that surprised to find himself enjoying life as a closer. Though there is one thing that causes even Smoltz himself to sit up and take notice.
"I'm surprised by the rate of success, to be honest," he said. "I'm never surprised to be successful, but at this rate? Who could have predicted.
"There's no way."
