Closing Time: John Smoltz, alive and kicking

Oh, Boston, this one's gotta hurt. After wasting eight months of time, resources and millions of dollars in an effort to return John Smoltz(notes) to form, so as to give the Red Sox a second-half boost, the team cut him loose after eight starts produced a foul-smelling 8.32 ERA. But, as many in the fantasy community pointed out, some of the 42-year-old Smoltz's peripheral numbers, including an excellent 33:9 K-to-BB ratio in 40 IP, were much better than his overall line indicated. And his fastball velocity was only roughly one mile per hour slower than what he'd worked with in his previous four seasons. Making his return to the Senior Circuit on Sunday against San Diego, Smoltz was finally everything that Boston hoped he could still be. At one point early in the game, he fanned seven straight hitters. Of course, this wasn't Carl Hubbell striking out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin consecutively in the 1934 All-Star game. In fact, it was...