ajc: Smoltz complains of sore shoulder after shaky outing (RR)

As distressed Braves fans turn to puffing poisonous sternoclavicular-laced joints!

The ache in his shoulder, which landed him on the disabled list last summer and to start this season, seems unlikely to subside while he’s trying to throw fastballs and sliders past major league hitters.

All four of his arm surgeries have been on the elbow, but it’s been his shoulder causing problems the past four seasons. Smoltz has said before that he wouldn’t endure another major surgery and rehab.

On Sunday, he couldn’t make adjustments to pitch effectively and with tolerable discomfort.

“The [recovery] cycle has not been the way I would like it to be,” he said. “Meaning, certainly today, I didn’t have some of the stuff I had the first four games. And there was nowhere to get it.

“So that’s why I’m going to assess it, see what we need to do to either make the changes or rest it or do whatever we have to do. Because I can not pitch like [Sunday]. That’s not going to help the team.”