Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 10, 1993 TAG: 9310100072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Long
Right-hander John Smoltz wanted to pitch in Game 1 of the NLCS. He almost did.
Smoltz, Atlanta's ace in the last two postseasons, was as confused as he was unhappy that manager Bobby Cox named him to start Game 4 here tonight (8:30 p.m., WDBJ) against Philadelphia.
Smoltz was slated to pitch an NL West playoff game against San Francisco on Monday, a game that wasn't necessary when the Braves won and Giants lost on the final day of the season.
"The assumption was in my mind that I was just going to continue the rotation [and work Game 1 of the NLCS in Philadelphia on Wednesday]," Smoltz said Saturday. "I was just caught off guard.
"There's no way I can sit here and tell you I wasn't caught off guard or maybe a little upset, but to say that it will affect my routine or whatever I did the rest of the season, that would be a lie."
Cox said he explained to Smoltz that the Braves would be stronger as a staff if the right-hander went to the bullpen for the first two games of the series. Had the Phils' 10th-inning Game 1 victory gone another inning, Smoltz was going to be used in relief for the first time since his rookie season as a pro, in 1986 at Lakeland in the Detroit chain.
"The only reason people made as big a deal of it as they did is my postseason numbers the last two years," he said. "I wasn't as upset as I was caught off guard."
Smoltz, 15-11 this season, is only eight games over .500 in the Braves' three straight NL West championship seasons. In nine playoff and World Series starts, however, the 26-year-old Michigan native is 5-0 with a 2.13 ERA.
"I do relish pitching in these games," Smoltz said. "My own expectations are as high in the regular season, but I guess you can look at the postseason as a chance for me to redeem myself.
"I don't see it as too pressure-filled. And for me, it's just fulfilling a dream. I've probably pitched in 1,000 of these as a kid, imagining I'm in the playoffs and Series."
Smoltz said that despite his success in October the last two years, "I've never felt this good, physically, at this point of the season." And Smoltz, who ranked second in the NL in strikeouts to Cincinnati's Jose Rijo, worked into the sixth inning in 33 of his 35 starts.
"The big thing for me is to not let the [noisy, sellout] crowd get me trying to throw harder than I want to throw," Smoltz said. "That's easier said than done. The crowd lifts you up. You feel like you're on air.
"That will be my only concern. After that it's pitching I have to concentrate on, not trying to throw the ball by people."
\ SHORT STUFF: Philadelphia will pitch left-hander Danny Jackson against the Braves tonight. In Game 2 of the NLCS at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium a year ago, Jackson lasted only 1 2/3 innings in a Pittsburgh loss.
So, Jackson was asked Saturday, how is he different from the pitcher that faced Atlanta last year in the playoffs?
"Good question," Jackson responded. "We'll find out tomorrow."
\ NO. 11: The Phillies have 10 pitchers on their postseason roster. Mike Williams, the former Virginia Tech right-hander, is No. 11.
Williams, the Giles County, Va., resident who is with the club for the NLCS although he isn't on the roster, spent most of the season with the Phillies. Pitching coach Johnny Podres said that when manager Jim Fregosi decided to go with 15 position players and 10 pitchers, Williams was the odd man out.
Williams was only 1-3 with a 5.29 ERA in 17 games - including four starts - for the Phils. However, Podres said Williams "really got his feet on the ground the last two months. He did a good job for us when Jim used him late in the season."
Williams lost a potential playoff spot when Philadelphia recalled outfielder Tony Longmire from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Aug. 31, the day postseason rosters were set. An Aug. 10 deal the Phillies made with the Chicago White Sox to acquire veteran reliever Bobby Thigpen also had an impact on Williams' status.
"Depending on what management decides to do with the current personnel, who they sign, Mike could possibly be in the starting rotation next season," Podres said. "I love his curveball. It's one of the best I've seen."
\ MOST GAMES: Terry Pendleton's start at third base for Atlanta on Saturday gave him the record of NLCS games, with 29. In Pendleton's fifth playoff series, he eclipsed Pete Rose's NLCS games mark of 28.
Rose played all six of his championship series when the event had a best-of-five format. Pendleton's games have been in best-of-seven series. All four of Pendleton's previous NLCS trips have brought pennants and World Series appearances - in 1985 and '87 with St. Louis and in '91-92 with the Braves.
\ MOVING UP: Former Braves catcher Bruce Benedict, who began his managerial career this season at Danville in the Appalachian League, will move up to manage the Braves' Class AA team at Greenville, S.C., in 1994. Atlanta also is moving Class AAA Richmond pitching coach Bruce Dal Canton down to Greenville, since most of the club's top pitching prospects are expected to be in Double A next summer.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB