"The Red Sox did not sign John Smoltz to see how he'd do against the Washington Nationals in June, so getting carried away by his first start tonight would be missing the point.

He could pitch like the Hall of Famer he will one day become or he could pitch like you'd expect a 42-year-old coming off shoulder surgery to pitch.

So just as the Sox were not relying on Smoltz for the early months of the season, tonight's 85-90 pitch outing is a mere tuneup for the months ahead, when the days shorten and chatter about magic numbers grows louder.

When Smoltz was introduced as a Red Sox in mid-January, general manager Theo Epstein said "when I close my eyes and envision it, I see him starting important games for us late in the season and hopefully into October."

There were three parts to Epstein and Co.'s modest offseason free agent acquisition plan: Brad Penny, Takashi Saito and Smoltz. Combined, the trio cost the team $12 million in guaranteed money.

Contrast that to the $423.5 million the Yankees spent on their Big Three of CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett. Once the Sox lost out on Teixeira, they went into a quick-strike, laser-surgery mode, bolstering their pitching ranks with three relatively small-ticket, low-risk, high-upside pickups.

Penny and Saito have panned out pretty well, each closer to a best-case scenario than the opposite. Smoltz was not just the biggest name of the three but presented the team with the biggest upside.

Even though he and the Sox each knew he would only be able to pitch for half a season, they understood it was the more important half. So far, before he's thrown a pitch, everything has worked out exactly according to plan."