Smoltz looks at Buchholz - 美國職棒

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When Smoltz looks at Buchholz, he sees himself 20 years ago

BY DANIEL BARBARISI


FORT MYERS, Fla. –– John Smoltz looks at Clay Buchholz and sees himself, 20
years ago.

The killer stuff. The early success. The crushing weight of high
expectations.

"I'm kind of drawn to him, in that regard, because that's what happened to
me, 20-something years ago," said Smoltz, now 41. "They said, 'Oh, this guy’
s got great stuff, and he should win 20-something games every year.' And
well, I know it’s unfair. It's hard to live up to that. It's somebody else's
opinion, and once you get that, you never get rid of it."

Clay Buchholz looks at John Smoltz and sees what he wants to be. So when
Smoltz offered to help him along, Buchholz jumped at the chance.

"He’s come up to me and sat down and said, 'Hey, anything you need to know.'
He feels like he's been in the same position as me earlier in his career, as
far as people telling him he’s got the stuff, he just has to know how to use
it," said Buchholz, 24 and coming off a brutal second season that saw him
sent down to Double-A midyear.

Before Buchholz’ start against the Orioles last Tuesday, Smoltz sat the
young pitcher down and told him what he needed to do. The veteran stressed
that the phenom needed to think about every pitch, and know how he would
approach each batter before he even warmed up. He talked about the insatiable
beast that is expectation, the way it can drag you down, ruin your
confidence.

Buchholz went to the mound thinking about Smoltz' words: Get strike one,
because then you’ve got four pitches you can throw next; throw the offspeed
stuff late in the count, and go for swings-and-misses.

Buchholz did just that. He mowed down the Orioles, pitching three perfect
innings, with two strikeouts.

He said he had literally never thrown with that much confidence.

"I feel like I’m showing them I’m a big-league pitcher now, I’m not just a
guy coming up here and throwing a ball to a catcher with no confidence. I
feel like I’ve gained a lot of respect in the month, month and a half I've
been here," Buchholz said.

On Sunday, Buchholz allowed his first run of the spring. Before that, he had
strung together 11 scoreless innings, and struck out 12. Until yesterday, he
hadn’t walked a batter all spring.

It's not clear whether that will be enough for Buchholz to earn a spot in the
opening day rotation. Buchholz thinks he’s probably slotted for Triple-A to
start the year.

"Sometimes it doesn’t even matter how good you do, their minds are already
made up, or the guys that they have are the ones they’re going to throw out
there," Buchholz said.

Manager Terry Francona said anything’s possible.

"He’s still got a uniform on. Everybody in camp is still in camp," Francona
said Sunday. "We really like him. Regardless of when he pitches, where, we
think a lot of him."

If Buchholz truly has turned the corner, then Smoltz deserves some of the
credit. He said he never knew much about Buchholz before he came to Boston –
just that he was a gifted kid, had thrown a no-hitter in his second start,
then flamed out and got sent back to the minors.

It brought Smoltz back to when he was coming up, on a losing Atlanta team,
alongside Tom Glavine and Steve Avery. They leaned a little on veterans like
Charlie Leibrandt and the late Rick Mahler, but they were largely on their
own.

"We were a bunch of young guys together. We had to almost, there for a while,
figure it out for ourselves."

Looking back, Smoltz wished someone had told him a thing or two, particularly
about the danger of expectations.

"My expectations were high enough. They were hard to reach. When I started
tacking on everybody else’s expectations, it became impossible," Smoltz
said.

After a few solid years, any failures began to fester. Even the decent
results weren’t good enough for Smoltz, and he couldn’t tune out all the
pundits predicting his continued success.

"I had to go through a process where, the first three or four years, I was
coming up short in everything I was trying to accomplish. I had to re-assess
and get back to everything I was trying to accomplish," Smoltz said.

After starting 1991 2-11, Smoltz saw a sports psychologist, and turned a
corner. He finished the year 12-2, and helped start the Braves dynasty.

Smoltz is hoping Buchholz has a similar turnaround. Buchholz first came up in
2007, won three games, pitched a no-hitter, struck out a batter an inning,
and posted a 1.59 ERA.

He came back in 2008 with huge expectations riding on his nasty
curveball.Needless to say, he didn’t live up to them. He started outwell
enough before going on the disabled list with a torn fingernail. After rehab
starts in Pawtucket, Buchholz came back to Boston and didn’t win another
big-league game all year. He posted a 6.75 ERA in 16 games in Boston, and was
sent down to Double-A.

"I sort of messed it all up last year, not having the season that everybody,
and I, expected," Buchholz said.

There’s that word again. Expected. Smoltz would tell him to forget it, to
put that word away and just worry about making pitches, attacking, knowing
what he’s doing.

"Let’s face it, he is very, very talented. And he’s fighting an uphill
battle, where people have tagged him with stuff, and that’s really not
fair," Smoltz said.

He is breaking out of that shell. He is shaking off catcher Jason Varitek
freely, concentrating on sticking to his game plan and making his pitch.
Varitek said the difference isn’t in his pitch selection, its in his
confidence and execution.

"I think he’s always had the ability to shake and do things, but maybe now
getting better to a point where he’s having an understanding of being able
to commit to what he’s doing," Varitek said.

Smoltz and Buchholz didn’t talk before Sunday’s start against the Orioles.

Buchholz took the mound looking sharp. threw his fastball for first-pitch
strikes. He attacked the lineup with off-speed pitches the second time
through. He piled up six strikeouts. Cut down the top prospect in baseball,
catcher Matt Wieters, on three straight off-speed pitches. He felt confident.
He didn’t need another talk; Smoltz’ words echoed in his mind the entire
time.

"I think that talk will probably sit and linger with me throughout the whole
year this year. My whole career, probably," Buchholz said.

Smoltz hopes that means another 20 years.


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