“John’s always got a plan, which is good,” Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. “We’ve learned to listen to him.”

Smoltz said he’s partly motivated by the problems he struggled through last season, which began when he dislocated his right pinky finger in a rundown. He tried to pitch through the injury, fully aware the Braves had no reliable starters beyond himself and Tim Hudson, but wound up hurting his shoulder and landing on the disabled list for the ninth time.

“I really wasn’t the same the rest of the season,” he said. “I pitched good, but I wasn’t the same after that. It bothered me, because all I had to do was take a start or two off and I could have been better served.”

Smoltz also was struggling to cope with a divorce, especially missing the time normally spent with his four children.

“My faith was the only thing that allowed me to get through last year,” he said. “There were a lot of things trying to creep into my head. I’m glad I didn’t give in to them.”

With all that swirling around him, Smoltz still put up another banner season. He went 14-8 with a 3.11 ERA, worked more than 200 innings for the third year in a row, and averaged 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings — his highest mark as a starter since 1998.

But he’s never content, which is why he’s tweaking himself again on those back fields.

“I’m working on a curveball,” Smoltz revealed. “I’m working on pitches that I can throw five times in a row that I’ve never thrown five times in a row. I’m doing any situation I want. If I don’t like the way I pitch to one hitter, I’ll get them back in there and do it again. I can’t do that in a game.”

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

Through the course of a half-hour conversation at Smoltz’s locker, another motivating factor seems to creep into the equation.

He’s spent much of his career alongside two of the game’s greatest pitchers, 300-game winners Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. Neither of them ever had overpowering stuff, but both knew how to work the plate and keep hitters off balance. Smoltz craves the same sort of acknowledgment, feeling his pitching acumen got overlooked because he had a fastball in the 90s and a nasty slider.

“I’m finally getting some credit for being a pitcher,” he said. “Well, I’ve been a pitcher for a long time.”

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