John Smoltz: Time To Give Up?

Future Hall-of-Fame pitcher John Smoltz has been having a very interesting rough time throughout his 5 starts as a Red Sox pitcher. Now after last nights lost against the Texas Rangers, Smoltz is current 1-3 with a 6.31 ERA, but he does has 22 strikeouts.

So seeing that he is struggling, and last night he even gave up three home runs in one inning, is it time to give up on the 42 year old? No.

While watching Smoltz pitch I notice that he isn't pitching bad at all. I even had a chance to see Smoltz rehab in Manchester, N.H. in May while he was playing for Portland Sea Dogs, and through his 4 innings of work, his "stuff" was there.

You can see that his fastball still has some velocity, and his slider does have a devastating break to it, so it's not like Smoltz doesn't have any tools to play with. I also have been noticing that his location is pretty much there. Its just a matter of throwing and executing the right pitches at the right time.

Last night during the Rangers game, Smoltz gave up three home runs in one inning like I mentioned before, and in my opinion two of those three home runs seemed to be a hanging slider or some type of change-up. But the one that was hit by David Murphy, I believe, looked to be a splitter or a sinking fastball of some sort, and it was as low as the batter's ankles. He just golfed the ball right out of the park. To me, and to most people, that was a very good pitch, it was near un-hittable but the batter found a way to golf and power it out.

I do think that Smoltz needs to stay away from saying the same old lines after every game. Something along, I don't think I pitched bad. My location and execution was there, it was just a matter of them getting timely hitting. I think Smoltz needs to lay away from that and just say, Hey look, I just didn't pitch very well today, the numbers sure don't reflect good pitches. A loss is a loss.

Do I think that Red Sox fans should start to jump of the Smoltz bandwagon? No. I don't think so at all. Smoltz is a professional pitcher, and as he says, and as I can see from watching the games, his pitches are there and his location is there. He just needs to get people out faster and to throw the right pitches at the right time. Smoltz and Varitek need to come up with a new game plan.

I think it is safe to say that you will be seeing a more dominant Smoltz coming up in the next weeks as we enter the dog days of summer.

You can read more and follow Tony Santorsa's work at www.BostonsSportsHub.blogspot.com and you can also follow his work and opinions on Twitter.com; follow him @ TonySantorsa.