One of the most underappreciated players of the last 20 years. (AP Photo)

Atlanta ace John Smoltz became baseball’s first pitcher to win 200 games and save 150. And who better to achieve this feat against than former teammate Tom Glavine?

Smoltz pitched seven strong innings to earn his NL-leading seventh win of the season and No. 200 for his career.

The future Hall of Famer said the moment felt like “euphoria.”

It’s hard to believe that Smoltz, who just turned 40 last week, has been so incredibly consistent over his career. He’s always viewed as sort of the third wheel of the Greg Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz trio, which is unfortunate. If he’d pitched anywhere else from 1988 to 2002 (when Glavine left the Braves) he’d be considered one of the best pitchers of our era — which is what he deserves.

Glavine, meanwhile, failed to pick up win No. 296 despite his quality performance. When he reaches 300, the celebration will undoubtedly be much greater than Smoltz’s was on Friday.

Just, out.

There were some unusual series sweeps for many teams in the first go around.

Pittsburgh took three from Houston AT Houston to go 3-0 on the season and lead the NL Central. How exciting! The funny thing is they did it without much help from Jason Bay, Adam LaRoche or Freddy Sanchez. They’ll take on Cincinnati starting today in Pittsburgh.

The Mets took three from the Cardinals IN St. Louis. The Mets got surprisingly great pitching from Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez and John Maine. Or is it that the Cardinals can’t hit? Their go-to guy, Albert Pujols, was silent all series, getting only one hit. With Carpenter missing his next start, things could get rocky for the Cards. They’ll be depending on Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright a lot, and that much pressure on your pitchers makes me nervous…

Perhaps the most surprising sweep is the Braves taking three from Philadelphia In Philadelphia. I have high expectations of the Phillies, but Adam Eaton is going to need to pitch A LOT better than that display yesterday. He had a coming out party in 2005 and got hurt halfway through the year. Now nobody can get him back on track. The Phillies were never able to muster more than 4 runs in the series, and we can credit that to quality Braves pitching more than poor Phillies hitting. Meanwhile, the Braves scored 16 runs in the three games. The Braves have the potential to surprise in this division, but would it really be a surprise if they do? I’m sure Bobby Cox expects a division title no less than he did before.

The Angels swept the Rangers in Anaheim. This isn’t that surprising because the Angels are clearly the class of the AL West, but I expected the Rangers to put up a bit more of a fight. Their bats were quiet all series, scoring only 7 total runs. Sammy Sosa contributed one hit in seven at bats. Other than Sosa, the middle of the Rangers line-up will get its fair share of hits this season — they better if they’re going to compete. Brandon McCarthy got kicked around in his debut, allowing 10 hits and a walk in six innings. The Rangers will head home for a series against Boston that starts today.

The one thing that steams me up the most, though, is Barry Bonds hit his 735th home run the other day and inched his way closer to history.

Tell me I’m not the only one that doesn’t want him to get there.  He sure looks happy about disgracing the game, doesn’t he? It’ll be sad if he breaks the record on the road and nobody cheers. What awful archival footage that will be…

Just, out.