Smoltz shares an inspirational journey

Posted May 13, 2012 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated May 13, 2012 at 07:47 PM

John Smoltz originally did not want to write a book, but after some reflection, the eight-time all-star pitcher realized it was a chance to discuss something more meaningful than just baseball.

“I feel a burden to write this book,” Smoltz notes in the opening chapter of “Starting and Closing: Perseverance, Faith, and One More Year” (William Morrow, $26.99, hardback, 294 pages).

Burdensome to Smoltz, perhaps, but not to the reader.

This autobiography, co-written with veteran author Don Yaeger, is different in its approach and scope. This is not a story-of-my-life book in the traditional sense. The subject matter is mainly Smoltz’s final season in the majors, as he attempted to return from surgery for the fifth time. But he uses the insights gleaned from a 21-year career in the majors — 213 victories, 154 saves, one Cy Young Award — to put that 2009 season into perspective.

What I find so refreshing about “Starting and Closing” is Smoltz’s humility. He has the numbers and achievements, and very easily could have dwelled on his many successes. Anyone would be proud to play on a team that won 14 consecutive division titles, as the Atlanta Braves did under manager Bobby Cox. But Smoltz writes about his camaraderie with his fellow Braves pitchers, his revelation at a Bennigan’s restaurant when he became a born-again Christian, and his divorce from his first wife and subsequent marriage to Kathryn, his current spouse. He also discusses how he helped form King’s Ridge Christian School in Atlanta.

Smoltz does not hit the reader over the head with his Christian beliefs, but I do think one passage is revealing. Before he “truly” became a Christian, Smoltz confessed that “all I was doing was putting up a good Christian front.”

“From the outside, everything looked and sounded really good,” he writes. “On the inside, when it came down to my motivations, my reasons for doing things, it wasn’t adding up.”

Smoltz readjusted his life around and found peace, and that helped him relax and turn in some of his finest seasons with the Braves, including 1996, when he went 24-8 with a 2.94 ERA and won the National League Cy Young Award.

There is plenty of baseball in this book, too. Smoltz writes about his often uneasy relationship with Braves general manager John Schuerholz (“It’s safe to say we didn’t talk too much, but it’s not like we despised each other either.”) He explains why Cox has been so successful as a manager. I always recall watching Cox sitting on the bench in the Braves’ dugout, looking like he was ready to take a nap. That, of course, was untrue. You don’t win 14 division titles and a World Series title by snoozing between innings.

“Bobby’s moves were always calculated, made with the intention of preserving a lead, preserving his athletes, or generating some offense when the run-support well had run dry,” Smoltz writes. “He knew things the rest of us didn’t know, saw things even the best in the game didn’t see.

“This is what good managers do.”

Smoltz writes about the differences between starting and relieving, and discusses his fight to return to the starting rotation despite his success as the Braves closer (he saved 55 games in 2002, followed by seasons of 45 and 44 saves in 2003 and ’04, respectively).

Coming out of the bullpen was a radical change from Smoltz’s desire for structure.

“Closing took away one of the things I liked most about starting,” he writes. “Knowing when I was pitching next.”

He improved as a reliever, although there were some hairy moments; for example, walking in from the bullpen and hearing ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” being played as his “walk-in” song. “I started laughing on my way out to the mound,” he writes.

The team finally settled on the “Star Wars” theme, then switched to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” when he stepped from the outfield grass to the infield.

Smoltz is now retired from the game, but has opened a new chapter as a broadcaster and still harbors an ambition to play professional golf on the Champions Tour. Within the next five years, two of his Braves pitching teammates, Greg Maddux (355 wins) and Tom Glavine (305 wins), will be eligible for election to the Hall of Fame. So will Smoltz. It is not a stretch to suggest that all three pitchers will be enshrined in Cooperstown someday.

Regardless of what happens, Smoltz writes that he will follow the same principles that have sustained him in life.

“Have dreams and chase them. Don’t be afraid to fail,” he writes. “Learn how to rally, and trust that you have the ability to find your own measure of success in life.”

And, “in all moments, look up.”

That’s easy to do, since Smoltz has written an engaging, uplifting book.

 

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Tampa Prep’s Colwill wins Grand Prix dive meet

Posted May 13, 2012 by Bill Ward

Updated May 13, 2012 at 04:38 PM

Tampa Prep and University of Georgia product Chris Colwill put together one of his best performances of the year to capture first place by less than a point in Sunday’s 3-meter springboard finals of the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix in Fort Lauderdale.

Colwill, a 2008 Olympian, came from behind to win Sunday’s final. He and the six other finalists performed six dives, with Colwill winning by just .35 points over China’s Li Shixin. The key dives for Colwill were pulling off an extremely difficult forward 4-1/2 tuck that scored 79.80 him points and, on his last dive, a reverse 3-1/2 somersault tuck that he totaled 91 points.

In Friday’s semifinals, Colwill scored 442.45 points to win by nearly 50 points. There, his best dive came in the third round when he scored 81.60 points on his front 2-1/2 with two twists. That put him in first place and he followed that up with 79.90 points on his reverse 1-1/2 with 3-1/2 twists on his fourth dive.

More than 80 divers from 12 countries competed in this week’s meet at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex. That included six Olympic medalists, 24 Olympians and several World Championships and World Cup medalists. Colwill and his fellow American divers will compete for spots on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team June 17-24 at the Olympic trials in Federal Way, Wash.

“This (victory) was definitely a good confidence booster,’’ Colwill said by telephone after the meet. ‘‘Even though I missed a few dives throughout the week, those are things I can fix to make better. I feel like I’m doing what I need to be doing to be ready for the (Olympic) trials.’‘

Photo: Chris Colwill on the awards podium with China’s Li Shixin and Mexico’s Alejandro Daniel Islas Arroyo following the 3-meter springboard final in Fort Lauderdale. Photo courtesy of Chuck Colwill.

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‘You Stink!’ pays tribute to the worst in baseball

Posted May 13, 2012 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated May 13, 2012 at 12:35 PM

Norman Rockwell’s “The Dugout” sketch, which was the Sept. 4, 1948, cover of The Saturday Evening Post, is the perfect scene-setter for “You Stink: Major League Baseball’s Terrible Teams and Pathetic Players” (Black Squirrel Books, $24.95, paperback, 332 pages) — except for one small detail.

At first blush, it’s a great image — members of the Chicago Cubs morosely watching from the dugout as their team drops a game to the Boston Braves. Meanwhile, fans behind the dugout are jeering at the Cubs, including Rockwell, who is pictured in the upper left-hand corner of the drawing.

The minor detail? The Cubs are not among the terrible teams mentioned by authors Eric J. Wittenberg and Michael Aubrecht, although Cap Anson is mentioned in the book’s Hall of Shame for his racist leanings.

I suppose since Wittenberg grew up a Phillies fan during the 1970s, he could have used the photo of Richie Allen tracing the word “Boo” at third base, in response to the heckling Philadelphia fans.

But I am quibbling here. Actually, this is a fun book. I mean, anyone can admire a successful franchise or player. But it takes a lot more to be interested in teams and players that, well, stink. And Philadelphia had its share of awful teams — both the Phillies and the Athletics have entries in this book.

Wittenberg and Aubrecht are funny, but not mean-spirited, as they examine teams from the 1889 Louisville Colonels (27-111) to the 2003 Detroit Tigers (43-119). There are some heavyweights here, like the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20-134), the 1962 Mets (40-120), the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117) and the 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates (50-112).

Both authors have extensive backgrounds in history and met because of their mutual interest in the Civil War. Wittenberg is an award-winning Civil War historian and is a lawyer in Columbus, Ohio. Aubrecht, in addition to writing many articles for Baseball Almanac, has studied baseball history along with the Civil War and the American Revolution.

There are plenty of fun facts in “You Stink!” A sampling:

The 1904 Washington Senators did not win their 10th game until June 28 — the team’s 58th game of the season.

The 1916 Athletics finished 54.5 games out of first place, and 40 games behind the seventh-place Senators. They went 2-28 in July.

The 1962 Mets finished 60.5 games out of first place, used seven different catchers, and staff ace Roger Craig won 10 games — while losing 24.

The authors use extensive charts, showing pitching, hitting and fielding statistics when available. This is put to good use if you want to track the 23-game losing streak by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, or want to see the day-by-day results of the 1962 Mets.

Terrible teams are not just limited to the field. The authors included the 1969 Seattle Pilots, and not because Jim Bouton wrote about that team extensively in “Ball Four.” The Pilots’ record was 64-98 (I mean, the Devil Rays had worse years), but what set this franchise apart was the ineptitude of management. The team played in a minor-league stadium and “sold out” its home opener with a crowd of 17,850. Poor attendance and marketing and the lack of a television contract forced the owners to sell to car dealer Bud Selig, who put the team in Milwaukee and renamed it the Brewers.

While the authors stick to the facts, they also put some subjective choices in the book, which they readily admit.

There is a Hall of Shame section, which “recognizes” bad teams, players, decisions and scandals. There’s the story of the 1884 Wilmington Quicksteps, a Union Association team that was so awful that for a Sept. 21, 1884, game against the Kansas City Cowboys, no fans showed up. None. Plus, the Quicksteps could not come up with the $60 fee required for visiting teams; prior to the first pitch, the team was yanked off the field and disbanded.

Other feats included in the book are the late 2007 collapse of the New York Mets,  the Black Sox scandal of 1919, the 19 straight losing seasons suffered by the Pittsburgh Pirates, the top 10 worst plays (Bill Buckner fans can guess what the No. 1 pick is …) and the game’s worst players. Worst hitter? Bill Bergey, who played from 1901 to 1911. Worst fielder? Tony Suck (yes, that’s his real name). And the “grand champion” is Mets catcher Choo Choo Coleman, a mainstay on that awful 1962 squad who also played for the 1961 Phillies.

There is plenty of fun in this book, but there are some glitches. For example, the first name of the first commissioner of baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, is misspelled in the chapter about the 1942 Phillies (it is spelled properly in other places, however).

The teaser leading into the chapter about the 1899 Cleveland Spiders correctly gives the team’s road record as a staggering 11-101 mark, coupled with a 9-33 home record. But two pages later, the authors put the numbers at 11-109 and 9-24. Baseball Almanac and http://www.retrosheet.org confirm the numbers at the beginning of the chapter.

Some team records didn’t square with those on retrosheet as well, but that was probably due to ties.

It doesn’t detract, but it is curious in places.

The nice thing about “You Stink!” is that the authors add fresh material on their blog, so if you enjoyed the book, you can go to their blog for updates: http://youstinkbaseball.wordpress.com . Their latest entry documents the Rangers’ Colby Lewis allowing back-to-back-to-back homers to the first three batters he faced in a game this week against the Orioles. The fourth batter flew out to the warning track.

It’s only fitting that the book opens with a foreword from the Phillie Phanatic and ends with this quote from Walter O’Malley — “Baseball isn’t a business, it’s more like a disease.”

For baseball fans who love to devour any words about the game, “You Stink!” is like a disease — you know the “achievements” are awful,  but you keep coming back for more.

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Rays @ O’s: Shields trying to stop the slide

Posted May 13, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 13, 2012 at 11:00 AM

ROGER MOONEY
BALTIMORE The Rays will try to stop the slide this afternoon when James Shields takes the mound against the first place Orioles at Camden Yards.

“We need to get some wins here,” Shields said Saturday before the Rays tied a team record with five errors in a 5-3 loss to the O’s.

The Rays have dropped three straight, four of five and six out of their last seven.

They are playing a sloppy brand of ball reminiscent of the old Devil Rays.

“Everyone needs to step their game up,” Shields said. “I don’t think we’re playing flawless baseball right now. Teams are going to go through that. All the good ones get out of it quick.”

Shields, 5-1, will try to be the stopper.

Carlos Peña returns to the lineup today after taking most of Saturday off to regroup after getting only three hits in 35 at-bats this month.

“I have faith in my ball club,” Peña said Saturday. “We’ll get it back together. We’ll get on the train and keep going in the right direction once again.”

Desmond Jennings is not in the lineup, making this the sixth straight game he hasn’t started because of a mild left knee strain suffered May 6.

Sean Rodriguez, he of the 10-game hitting streak, is also not in the lineup.

Here is the Rays lineup …

Zobrist RF
Upton CF
Joyce LF
Scott DH
Peña 1B
Keppinger 3B
Rhymes 2B
Gimenez C
Johnson SS
—
Shields P

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Maddon on the sloppy play and if the Rays have hit rock bottom

Posted May 12, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 12, 2012 at 11:56 PM

ROGER MOONEY
BALTIMORE Are the wheels coming off to this once merry season?

Or are the Rays just going through one of their down cycles where they only look like something other than a playoff contender.

Failures to bunt, hit with runners in scoring position and mistakes on the base paths played major roles in the first three losses on this road trip.

On Saturday, the fielding was particularly inept as the Rays tied a team record with five errors in one game – each by a different fielder, which was a franchise-first – and lost 5-3 to the Orioles at Camden Yards.

How bizarre is that? The Rays can’t field and the first place Orioles are vying with the Dodgers for the best record in the major leagues.

When asked after the game if his team has hit rock bottom, Joe Maddon said, “We’re not even close to the bottom. We’re fine. We’ve lost some really tough games on this road trip. We’ve not hit exceptionally well. We’ve only scored a minimum number of runs during the course of three games in New York and the two games here. So the offense has been down a little bit, and we are getting different people involved, and got to make sure they get acclimated and start picking things up a little bit. But the effort’s been great. We’ve been making mistakes, mental mistakes and physical mistakes, but we’ll work it out.”

Here is some more of what Maddon said after the game, the Rays third straight loss, fourth in five games in this trip and sixth in their last seven games:

On the mistakes that pop up on a nightly basis:
“We’re not executing well. We’re talking about it daily, I promise. We’re trying to workout all the people that are kind of moving around right now, make sure they understand what’s going on. Of course they played their before, but sometimes on the major league level you’re mind still doesn’t catch up.”

On injuries to Evan Longoria and Desmond Jennings and nights off for Carlos Peña and Matt Joyce (though both entered the game) that put a number of players in unfamiliar positions:
“We’re missing some major components, and while we are, we got to get these other guys to pick it up a little bit.”

On the possibility of calling a team meeting:
“Just keep going, boys, keep grinding. The time I get concerned is if the effort is lacking. There is no lack of effort.”

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Armwood’s Duncan runs another PR in 1,600

Posted May 12, 2012 by Bill Ward

Updated May 12, 2012 at 10:33 PM

Armwood senior Brandon Duncan recorded another personal record in the 1,600-meter run, clocking 4 minutes, 21.69 seconds to take third place in Saturday’s preprunners.com All-Star Showdown at Melbourne Holy Trinity.

Duncan, a district champion and regional runner-up in the event, was poised to run a lifetime best at last week’s Class 3A state track finals in Jacksonville but was knocked down just before the halfway mark of the 1,600. This time, Duncan kept his feet to slice nearly two more seconds off his PR. Lake Brantley senior Otniel Teixeira was the winner in 4:19.07 and Billy Anguish of Winter Park was second in 4:20.84.

Hawks coach Chris Biernacki says Duncan will likely run the 1,600 again before the end of the school year at another invitational similar to Saturday’s meet.

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Hall of Fame: Selmon, Atkins, Dickson

Posted May 12, 2012 by Joey Johnston

Updated May 12, 2012 at 08:57 PM

The late Lee Roy Selmon left a permanent imprint upon the University of South Florida’s athletic department. So it was only fitting Saturday night when Selmon was announced in a three-person contingent for the USF Athletic Hall of Fame’s fourth class.

Also elected were men’s basketball player Chucky Atkins, who played 11 seasons in the NBA, and Jessica Dickson, USF’s all-time leading scorer for women’s basketball.

The announcement was made at Saturday night’s BullsFest fundraising event.

Selmon, Atkins and Dickson will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the USF Sun Dome on Friday, Sept. 28 – one night before the Bulls host Florida State University in football.

“Lee Roy was about more than athletics,’’ USF athletic director Doug Woolard said. “I think the entire university understood that he had integrity and credibility. The way he lived his life made him a role model for everyone at USF.’’

Selmon died last Sept. 4 two days after suffering a stroke. He was 56.

He dedicated nearly two decades to USF. In 1993, he was initially hired as assistant athletic director and chief fundraiser when the school successfully pursued and inaugurated its football program. He served as athletic director from 2001-04, then became president of the USF Foundation’s Partnership for Athletics, a role he served until his death.

In February, USF named its main athletic building as the Lee Roy Selmon Athletic Center.

Selmon remains the only Buccaneer player enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A former University of Oklahoma All-American, he’s also in the College Football Hall of Fame and the Academic All-American Hall of Fame, along with the athletic halls of fame for Oklahoma, Florida and Tampa.

Atkins was a four-year point-guard starter from 1992-96. He had 1,619 career points, fifth on USF’s all-time list, and 519 assists, and averaged a career-best 19.3 points during the 1995-96 season. Atkins was recently hired as head coach at his alma mater, Orlando Evans High School.

Dickson, from Ocala Vanguard High School, scored 2,402 career points to top USF’s all-time basketball list (male or female). She was a first-team All-Big East Conference selection and led the nation in scoring for 11 consecutive weeks during the 2005-06 season, when she helped the Bulls to the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance. Dickson was a second-round WNBA pick in 2007.

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In The Game brings back Broad Street Bullies

Posted May 12, 2012 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated May 14, 2012 at 01:08 PM

In The Game is bringing the bullies back.

In The Game will unveil its Broad Street Boys set — a tribute to the Philadelphia Flyers franchise — on June 29.

Each box will contain 14 cards —eight base cards and six inserts. In The Game said in a news release that the production run on this product “will be extremely limited.”

The base card set will focus on the history of the Flyers. Subsets will include Expansion Year, Broad Street Bullies, Triumph and Tragedy, Contending in the 90s, New Millennium and Continuing the Tradition. 

The inserts will either be game-used or autograph cards, or a combination of both. The autograph cards will come in black and orange variations. Full checklists should be available May 15.

I included a photo of the Battle For The Cup memorabilia card, since it depicts a young Phil Esposito, who was on the Boston Bruins squad that lost to the Flyers in the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals. The card features Bernie Parent and Rick MacLeish, Dave Schultz and Gilles Gilbert, and Terry O’Reilly and Esposito.

The Flyers repeated as champions by defeating Buffalo in the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals.

I find it interesting that In The Game is targeting a narrow audience with this product — after all, how many Penguins fans will be rushing out to the stores to snap up this product? On the other hand, it’s really not such a gamble. The Flyers, particularly the group that played during the 1970s, were a tough, in-your-face bunch of brawlers who didn’t back down from anyone. They may have been feared or even despised, but they still resonate with hockey fans today. Plus, the chance to pick up an autograph card of say, Jaromir Jagr, is nice motivation to buy a box or two.

And that’s what In The Game is aiming for.

 

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Rays lineup and Matsui update (Hint: He’s headed to Durham)

Posted May 12, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 12, 2012 at 04:30 PM

ROGER MOONEY
BALTIMORE Hideki Matsui completed the extended spring portion of his season this afternoon. He was 8-for-18 with a homer in four games.

Matsui is traveling to Toronto to obtain a work visa. He is expected to report to Triple A Durham on Tuesday.

As for the Rays tonight, Carlos Peña gets his first day off of the season. Jeff Keppinger will start at first base, a position he hasn’t played during the regular season since 2008. Keppinger has played only eight games at first during his career.

Desmond Jennings is not in the lineup. Neither is Matt Joyce, though the O’s are throwing left Brian Matusz.

Here is the Rays lineup:

Zobrist RF
Rodriguez SS
Upton CF
Keppinger 1B
Guyer LF
Scott DH
Johnson SS
Gimenez C
Rhymes 2B
—
Moore P

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Rays v O’s: Moore returns to scene of debut

Posted May 12, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 12, 2012 at 03:37 PM

The Frank Robinson statue in the new garden area behind the left-center field bullpens at Camden Yards.

ROGER MOONEY
BALTIMORE Matt Moore had a premature start to his major league debut last September when he walked out of the visitors bullpen at Camden Yards expecting to start the seventh inning against the Orioles on Sept. 14.

Hold up. It seems starter Wade Davis was back on the hill.

So, Moore quickly retreated behind the bullpen gate.

“I don’t know if my linemen jumped, but it was definitely a false start,” Moore said.

Moore entered the game after Davis walked Nolan Reimold with one out and retired the first two batters he faced to end the inning. He returned for the eighth and, after striking out Nick Markakis, allowed a single to Vladimir Guerrero and a home run to Matt Wieters for the final runs in the O’s 6-2 victory.

The legend of Matt Moore began with his next appearance, a three-inning stint Sept. 17 at Boston in relief of Jeff Niemann.

The Rays are hoping to see some of that Moore magic tonight when they play the Orioles in the second game of this three-game set. The Rays dropped out of a tie with the O’s for first place with Friday’s 4-3 loss.

Tampa Bay has lost three of the first four games on this road trip and five of their last six.

Moore, 1-2, 5.71 in six starts, comes off the shortest outing of his brief career – a 4 2/3 inning effort against the A’s in which he allowed a career-high eight runs.

Avoiding a repeat from Weiters, Moore said, would be a good start.

“Down and in, down and out, down and in, whatever works,” Moore said.

Lineups to come …

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