Joe Smith

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The road to the future is rarely smooth. There are ruts and potholes. A detour here, a run in with a psycho-vampire motorcycle gang there.

All right, maybe there are no such things as hog-riding vampires, but every now and then, you're going to have a blowout.

It's all part of the journey, the test to get from Point A to Point B. Ballplayers such as Joe Smith understand this.

In 2007, Smith made his big-league debut with the Mets. He pitched in 54 games. The next year, he made 82 appearances. Along the way, then-Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson changed his delivery. What had always been a fairly simple motion to the plate grew more complicated, but Smith adjusted and continued to pitch well.

The Indians acquired Smith and Luis Valbuena in December 2008 in a three-team deal with the Mets and Mariners. He made 34 appearances in 2009 and opened the 2010 season with the Tribe. The balloon burst when Smith was sent to Columbus on April 30 with a 7.71 ERA.

When he returned in June, it looked like more of the same. After the game against the Reds, he talked with bullpen coach Scott Radinsky, who is now the Indians' pitching coach.
"Rad asked me, 'How did you feel the most comfortable throwing the ball?' " Smith said. "I told him the most comfortable I felt is when I came out of college.' He said, 'OK, let's try it. We'll throw a bullpen tomorrow.' "

Inwardly, Smith groaned because he'd thrown a season-high 37 pitches against the Reds. But he threw a bullpen session the next day and another shorter version a couple of days later.

"I kept saying, 'I can't change in the middle of the season,' " Smith said. "Rad said, 'Let's just see if you can throw strikes.' "

Smith not only threw strikes, but his velocity jumped from 90 mph to between 91 and 94 mph. Thirty-seven of his last 41 appearances were scoreless.
"It allowed him to drop and drive and let the hill [mound] take him to the plate," Radinsky said. "It was a natural thing for him. It's where he felt comfortable. It's a good story."
The story doesn't end there. There was another chapter, disguised as a five-mile stretch of orange barrels, along Smith's highway.

In spring training last year, he strained an oblique muscle and opened the year on the disabled list. In Cleveland, the Bullpen Mafia was just gaining a rep. Lefty Tony Sipp and righty Vinnie Pestano took over as closer Chris Perez's late-inning setup men, a role Smith flirted with in 2010.
When Smith rejoined the team in mid-April, the middle innings were the only ones open to him. Not the best place to be, but it gave the side-arming, right-handed Smith a chance to do something he always believed he could do -- get left-handed hitters out.

"Manny [Acta] was throwing me in there just to get work, to get back up to speed," Smith said. "We could be up a lot, or down a lot. It wasn't like matchup situations. Fortunately, I was able to get left-handers out and gain some confidence as the year went on."

The change was startling. After hitting .342 (13-for-38) against Smith in 2010, lefties hit .152 (12-for-79) against him last year. By the end of the year, Smith and Sipp were sharing the seventh inning to pave the way for Pestano and Perez in the eighth and ninth.

Smith went 3-3 with a 2.01 ERA in 71 appearances. The opposition hit .217 against him. It was a career year that started with a trip to the disabled list.

"Sometimes in this game, you get one chance to show what you can do," Smith said.
This season, Smith has a 1.74 ERA in nine games. Lefties are hitting .214 (3-for-34) and righties .217 (5-for-23) against him. He has allowed one run in his past six games and already has four holds.
Finally: Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall was placed on the seven-day disabled list at Columbus with a strained calf. . . . Matt LaPorta, another Indian waiting at Columbus, was named the International League Hitter of the Week.