Five and Fly: Big Three still dealing

Happy big four-oh, John Smoltz.

The last of the Atlanta Braves' Big Three to pass out of his 30's, and the only one to have stuck around the teepee, Smoltz reached 40 as many of us do, playing a little more golf and with body parts pointing in directions they never had before.

Smoltz dislocated his pitching pinkie yesterday in Washington on a night, appropriately, that Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux stood on mounds scattered across baseball. They lost, received no decision and won, respectively, all three pitching for contenders, all three killing time before packing for Cooperstown, two of them at the top of their rotations and the other prepping Jake Peavy for greatness.

They arrived in the big leagues one summer after another beginning 21 years ago with Maddux's debut in Chicago, followed 11 months later by Glavine in Atlanta, and 11 months after that by Smoltz in Atlanta. Together, they spent more than a decade winning division titles with the Braves, winning a World Series in 1995, winning over chicks who dig the long ball, along the way becoming the thinking man's rotation.

Before Randy Johnson's run of four in a row beginning in 1999, Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz earned seven of eight National League Cy Young Awards, the exception in 1997, when Maddux finished just behind Pedro Martinez.

As a threesome, they have won 828 games and, due to Smoltz, saved 154. They have pitched about 12,000 innings. They have earned nearly $400 million.

Nearly as significant, they have played the game with extraordinary spirit, represented the game with persistent dignity, honored the game with uncommon grace. With any luck at all, they'll lay down their gloves together, making for one very cool Hall-of-Fame weekend.

FIVE …

• The St. Louis Cardinals had scored three runs in all of their first innings combined until they put three on Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Brett Tomko last night at Dodger Stadium. The previous three came April 15 on an Albert Pujols home run off Milwaukee's Ben Sheets. Pujols, batting .239 after 134 at-bats, was again hitless, and had five unusual plate appearances against the Dodgers. All five began with a 2-and-0 count, Dodgers pitchers more willing to believe in Pujols' potential than his current batting average. The at-bats ended, in order, with a pop-up, another pop-up, a fly ball to the center-field wall, a grounder to third and a liner to third. Pujols has lingering soreness in his right hamstring and right knee, a certain jumpiness when he gets into hitters' counts, but no answers as to when he's going to be Albert Pujols again. "I think he's getting frustrated," Manager Tony La Russa said, "but he's just going to have to deal with it."

• Despite a recent upswing, Wilson Betemit is batting .183 and in a fight with rookie Andy LaRoche for playing time at third base for the Dodgers. In Pittsburgh, Andy's brother, Adam, is batting .168, not yet the key offensive component the Pirates were looking for when they gave up their closer for him. Betemit has three home runs and 10 RBI, Adam LaRoche three home runs and 15 RBI. The connection? Over six months, Braves general manager John Schuerholz traded them both away.

• Still on the Braves. Their bullpen and rotation so far statistically in the middle of the pack in the National League, the Braves are trolling for pitching, according to scouts. Mike Hampton, Tanyon Sturtze, Mark Redman, Lance Cormier and closer Bob Wickman are on the disabled list, though Wickman is due to come off today.

• Jason Bergmann is one of the things going right for the Washington Nationals, that and their four-game winning streak, which might result in a whole new investigation. A Jersey shore guy who attended Rutgers, Bergmann has a 2.76 ERA and 1.00 WHIP after eight starts, which, with the Nats, adds up to one win, for which he had to take a no-hitter into the eighth inning last night.

• Hopes in the NL Central ride now on the Milwaukee Brewers cooling, and on a schedule that has gone from friendly to daunting. Ned Yost's crew played 21 of its first 34 games – through May 9 – at Miller Park and was 24-10. Since then, the Brewers have lost three of four on the road, including a bullpen implosion last night in Philadelphia. Eighteen of their next 31 are on the road, including three more in Philly, a West Coast run through Los Angeles and San Diego, and a nine-gamer through Texas, Detroit and Minnesota into mid-June.

… AND FLY

Wuertz-case scenario: Derrek Lee has a bum neck, Jason Marquis has a crummy start and still the Chicago Cubs take a 4-0 lead into the fourth inning in New York, all of which was undone over the next five innings, culminating with a three-walk walk-off by reliever Michael Wuertz. Lou Piniella took it well. "You know what, I'm going to find out if there are some kids down in Triple-A throwing the ball, and maybe that's the answer – get some kids in there that can throw the ball," he told reporters last night.