John Smoltz Game Quotations

I don't know anyone in the history of the game who went through more to start out.

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.

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.

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.

The only way it?s bad for the game is if a guy is falsely accused. That?s bad. To be thought lesser than your talent, lesser than what you deserve to get credit for because of what somebody wrote, that?s the greatest travesty. That?s why you should hold onto people?s words as long as you can, until you absolutely know the truth.

Truly a little bit of irony here, coming back to this stadium. I'd seen enough in 18 innings, but this is the greatest trip of my life, ... This is going to be the first World Series game I ever attended that I didn't play in.

When you're used to doing something a certain way, I think changing is a lot harder than people think. Everybody is going to have their opinions, but he's just going to have to go through it. Really, it comes down to him making certain changes. This game is a game of adjustments.

I've been busting it. This is as much as I've battled for a long time. It was a playoff game for me.

That game showed me if you put the ball in the right spot and trust it, you can get guys out.

I'll be smart and say I can use that extra day of rest. I'm not going to approach one game as being more important than another.

I made one bad pitch (to Jacobs). I didn't think it would cost us the game but it did. You know when you're facing Pedro, you have to be at the top of your game.

I knew the first inning was going to be my biggest inning, ... I waited a long time to start a game of this magnitude. When I got through the first inning, that was the biggest test.

You will not hear me say once after Game 1 that had any bearing whatsoever.

I don't need a game to determine anything about a pitch. This is what I've been through my whole career.

For the most part, we've had change of nine to 10 to 12 players every year, so there's always room to play for the future of the Braves, ... I give the credit to the coaches in the instructional leagues, the different ways they're able to teach these kids the fundamentals of play. Playing the game is one thing. They've done that all their life. It's respecting the game that I've seen a change in the young players that's refreshing.