Ugly outcome in Beantown marks the end of an era

For all intents and purposes, an era ended Thursday night.

John Smoltz got rocked in Yankee Stadium. During a fourth inning when he yielded seven runs and got only one Yankee out, he looked old and weak and a little scared on the mound.

Frankly, the postgame analysis by a seething Boston media read like a campaign smear.

Smoltz's reputation, tarnished with every outing, grows a touch dimmer. ... Just Say No to the admirable Smoltz experiment. ... The inevitable Smoltz implosion. ... It looks like it's over. ... He can't get lefties out.

These were the professional assessments. The fervent Red Sox Nation had less charitable things to say about the possibility of Smoltz getting even one more scheduled start Monday. The front office listened and cut him the next day.

"I'm pretty humbled right now," Smoltz said after the latest pitching debacle.

In a sad way, both the Red Sox and Smoltz got what they deserved. The Red Sox grossly overpaid for a 42-year-old arm fresh off another surgery. Smoltz left some scorched feelings in Atlanta where he labeled the Braves' more cautious $2.5 million guarantee plus incentives as "disrespectful."

Oh, that we all could be so disrespected by our employers.

The point of all this is to say that the era of perhaps the greatest pitching rotation of all-time is all but officially over. The destined Hall of Fame trio that made the Braves the most consistently successful team in history hasn't shared the same uniform in seven years, but it still seems more final now.

Greg Maddux has his number hanging from the Turner Field rafters and is on the five-year countdown for his bust to be permanently housed in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Tom Glavine is sitting around sulking about his own perceived slights by the franchise that made him rich and famous and is waiting for his phone to ring from some other team.

Now Smoltz has failed in Beantown -- his last pitch an intentional walk to Alex Rodriguez.

This just isn't the Hollywood ending we anticipated. There might be no good way for the career of a dominant starting pitcher to end.

Most go out with a whimper instead of a bang. You only hope to hear more cheers than jeers when you duck into the dugout that final time.

Perhaps the only thing worse than getting shelled out of Yankee Stadium would be testifying in front of Congress.

There were no Ted Williams-style walk-off moments for the three Braves aces.

Maddux induced an inning-ending double play grounder by Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins in the seventh inning of last fall's National League Championship Series for the Dodgers. He announced his retirement two months later.

Glavine threw six shutout innings against the Augusta GreenJackets on June 2 for the Rome Braves, finishing with a Ben Woodbury pop up to short. He was unceremoniously released the next day by Atlanta and still lingers out there as a free agent.

Smoltz got hammered out of the Red Sox rotation. His ERA bloomed to 8.32. His only face-saving hope might be heading to the minors and returning later to the bullpen.

It didn't need to come to this. At some point and after so many surgeries, Smoltz had plenty of time to think about whether continuing was the best option or whether to spend the next eight years preparing for a senior golf career.

You just wonder why these guys didn't get together after a round of golf somewhere in all their years together and script a better conclusion to their intertwined Hall of Fame careers. Couldn't one of them say what all of their fans were thinking: "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we all got enshrined in Cooperstown at the same time? We're all the same age. We should coordinate our retirements so that can happen. I'll make a tee time at Leatherstocking Golf Course for the morning of the induction. Loser buys lunch."

But only Maddux had the sense enough to retire with dignity. He didn't try to milk the Braves for a golden parachute. He didn't put himself in position to get all bent out of shape when the Braves let concerns over arm surgeries tighten their purses.

Whether it was ego or greed, Glavine and Smoltz chose to squeeze one more season and a few million more dollars out of their arms. Maybe they didn't want to get outshined by Maddux again in their Hall of Fame moment.

But is this really better? Was the $5.5 million in Smoltz's already bloated bank account worth this indignity? Did the pettiness of not attending Maddux's induction into the Braves' Hall of Fame really serve the best interests of Glavine's legacy?

It will all probably be forgotten in time. Smoltz's last bad night in New York didn't change anything. Glavine's ill will with the Braves will subside. They'll all get their due in the end.

But it would have been nice to have the story end the way we imagined it would when three great Braves were the best rotation the game has ever seen. It would have been nice to see them entering the Hall of Fame arm-in-arm-in-arm.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.