By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

John Smoltz’s baseball career seems to have come full circle. The 42-year-old future Hall of Famer looks around the locker room at McCoy Stadium and sees young professionals intent on making the big leagues, just as he did back in 1987, right before his home-state Detroit Tigers traded the Warren, Mi. product to Atlanta for a veteran pitcher who helped them win the American League East division title.
Doyle Alexander delivered the goods for Detroit, going 9-0 in his half-season with the Tigers. Smoltz, meanwhile, joined the Braves’ farm system, briefly, then compiled a 2-7 record with a lackluster Atlanta team in 1988. He went 12-11, 14-11 and 14-13 over the next three years. The Braves moved to the top of the N.L. East in 1991 and stayed there for 14 years.
Smoltz, who cuts pretty much the same athletic figure as he did in his prime, is looking for one last act in his Hall of Fame career. After pitching four innings of one-run baseball on Wednesday night at McCoy Stadium, the veteran of 21 big league seasons talked about his immediate future with the Boston Red Sox, who plan to start him against Washington on June 25.
“It would be great to jump on one more pile,” Smoltz admitted, meaning a World Series celebration with Boston in late October. “I have no regrets about my career. We won 14 straight division titles with the Braves but only one World Series. Man, I wish it had been more.”
The 6-foot-3 Smoltz still cuts a sharp figure on the mound. His fast ball no longer touches 98 miles per hour on the radar gun but he has been effective in his six minor league rehab appearances.
“I kind of lost my feel for the ball tonight,” Smoltz said while leaning against a weight training machine underneath the bowels of McCoy Stadium. “I threw two innings of simulated ball in the bullpen to get as many innings as I could in tonight. My bullpen was outstanding but nobody saw that. My split was all over the place tonight.”
Smoltz retired the side on six pitches in the first inning before laboring through the second and third innings. Former big leaguer Keith Ginter hit a no-doubt homer to left-centerfield in the third frame off a 91-mile-per-hour fast ball. Smoltz got the side out on 13 pitches in the fourth inning, then tipped his cap to an appreciative crowd as he left the field.
“I was trying to do too much in a short outing,” he said. “It’s not about saving bullets for me. It’s about having good bullets to throw.”
Smoltz topped out at 92 miles per hour on a night when he mixed in a variety of breaking balls in the mid-80s range. Ex-big leaguer Wilson Betemit singled to left off Smoltz in the second inning. Whether Smoltz is going to fool major leaguers with his assortment of pitches is a question that will begin to be answered in eight days against the hapless Nationals, who aren’t much better than a strong Triple-A team (although they did beat the Yankees on Wednesday night).
“With eight days off, I have to find a program that will get me ready,” Smoltz said. “I will look at a lot of video. I’m excited about throwing to Jason Varitek or even George (Kottaras).”
Asked about Boston’s scheduled six-man starting rotation that manager Terry Francona plans to use for awhile, Smoltz sounded non-committal.
“That’s their call,” he said. “It sounds like they could have guys throwing 110 or 120 pitches in a six-man rotation. My job is to be ready. Tonight was fun. This seems like a neat stadium with fans who keep coming back every night. I don’t think anyone will be cheering me when I pitch in Washington or Baltimore. There’s nothing like getting into a big league game, though, and making adjustments on the mound. I hope (Boston pitching coach) John Farrell doesn’t have to come out and see me very often. I like to make my own adjustments.”
Smoltz was followed to the mound by Pawtucket’s top pitching prospect, righthander Clay Buchholz, a 25-year-old with dynamite stuff who is trying to find his way out of the minor leagues.
“Seeing these players in the minors reminds me of a long time ago, and makes me appreciate how much work went into my career,” Smoltz said. “I think players at this level get caught up in thinking about the big leagues too much. My advice to them is to understand that a lot of people are watching them every night, teams from all over baseball are watching. There are trades that can be made. I was part of one myself. “
That trade for Doyle Alexander, which is now listed as one of the worst deals in major league history, proved to be the stepping stone for Smoltz, who got an immediate chance with a talent-poor Atlanta ballclub. Four years later, Smoltz dueled his role model as pitcher, Jack Morris, in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, leaving after eight innings with the game still scoreless. Morris went the distance and the Twins won the Series on a 10th-inning home run by Kirby Puckett.
“That was a tough one,” Smoltz recalled. “If we had won the World Series in 1991, who knows how many more we might have won? But I have no regrets. I want to try and win one more with Boston. That would be a great way to finish.”