[新聞] Smoltz looks at Buchholz, he sees himself 20 years ago

看板RedSox作者Belladonaa時間17年前 (2009/03/17 00:08)推噓8(8推 0噓 6→)

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http://0rz.tw/VIShi 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. -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 118.160.64.65