News - Right place, right time

Terry Mulholland’s best season in the majors was 1991. John Burkett was let go by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in spring training. By the Devil Rays, for heaven’s sake.

Not a day goes by that the Cleveland Indians do not whine about how much they need pitching, but they designated Scott Kamieniecki for assignment. He refused it, so he was cut loose.

Andy Ashby was expected to be the Phillies’ second Curt Schilling — that’s the least he could do at his salary, higher than Philadelphia was paying the ace of the rotation — but he bombed early, then compounded his problems by lashing out at the Philly fans.

Anywhere from last week to last spring to last year, those pitchers were headed for the glue factory. Until they arrived in Atlanta. Now they’re winning again. Ashby, the latest to arrive (last Thursday), pitched a complete game in his winning debut Friday as a Brave in Baltimore.

You think other teams are annoyed that the Braves are rich enough in dollars and minor-league prospects to go out and get what they need every year? That’s nothing compared to how chagrined they are when they dump pitchers they’ve written off as has-beens, only to have those same tired arms pitch the Braves to yet another pennant.

It’s about to happen again this year.

At the All-Star break, the Braves’ bullpen was in dire straits. One week later, the bullpen has been bolstered and there’s a new starter capable of hurling complete games.

How do they do it? How do the Braves take aging, faltering pitchers and turn them into winners again?

They do it with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, not only two of the best pitchers of their generation, but also two of the best teammates. “Glavine and Maddux sat me down yesterday,” Ashby said after his seven-hit, one-run performance, “and talked to me.”

Then there’s the talking done by the Braves’ defense. It was almost comical to see the look on Ashby’s face Friday night when balls that would have gone to the outfield in Philadelphia were snapped up by Chipper Jones, Rafael Furcal, Andres Galarraga, Andruw Jones, Brian Jordan and Reggie Sanders. As a result, instead of getting in trouble and exiting early, Ashby was able to go nine innings.

“The defense, the way they played, saved myself a lot of pitches and saved us some runs,” said Ashby, amazed. “I’m not saying anything against the defense in Philadelphia. Maybe it’s positioning. They just seemed to be in the right place at the right time.”

So is he.