John Smoltz
John Smoltz
John Andrew Smoltz, nicknamed "Smoltzie" and "Marmaduke," is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1988 to 2009, all but the last year with the Atlanta Braves. An eight-time All-Star, Smoltz was one of a celebrated trio of starting pitchers, along with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, who propelled Atlanta to perennial pennant contention in the 1990s, highlighted by a championship in the 1995 World Series. He won the National LeagueCy Young Award...
third
If it were the old way there would have been another four-spot in that third inning.
battle gets
It gets old when you battle your butts off,
draw happy momentum playing road start teams three
I said at the start of this road trip, if we can take two out of three and kill the momentum of the teams we're playing with, that's going to help. Certainly, we didn't want to draw it up this way, but it had a happy ending.
against game head hear high likes played player plays regard respect talk uniform wear
I respect him as a player that I've played against about as much as anybody. That's a high regard when you talk about the likes of who I've played against. He plays the game right, plays with his head and you never hear anything about him bad. I think he's going to wear our uniform about as well as most have.
looking tested
I was looking forward. It was brutal. I was tested to the max.
everybody figure
Just like everybody else, he's going to have to go through it. You've got to figure it out yourself. It's what everybody has had to do.
deal game gone history incredible joey player
Joey Devine has such an incredible upside. I don't know any player in the history of the game that has gone through what he did. His personality will deal with it.
cannot feeling focus mound
I take the mound with the focus that is we cannot lose. I've had that feeling for a long time. That's the feeling you want to have as a pitcher. Find a way, any way, battle.
beat certainly game hooked last thoughts time
My thoughts are I better be on my game. I think Game 4, the last time we hooked up in the World Series, he certainly was on his, and he beat us.
achieve trying
My whole career, it's never been about trying to achieve something like this, ... It's who I am.
contain fun games latter learned
The anticipation is what kills me, ... I have more fun in these games than I have in any game I pitch. The issue's going to be will I be able to contain that adrenaline. I learned how to do that in my latter years.
count mainly talking
That's what everyone here was talking about -- mainly because of the role, ... It's a big part of your team's mentality, when you know you have someone to count on.
easy protect
That's the way I am. The easy thing to do is protect yourself and not go out there, but that's never been me.
felt few heads innings mess next room trying
I was trying to mess with their heads a little bit. I felt like if I could get through the first inning doing that, that the next few innings could give me some room for fastballs -- even right down the middle.