NOTES : Braves Don’t Want This Cast Removed

Lonnie Smith and John Smoltz were helped by a large supporting cast Thursday.

Literally.

Shortly before Smith and Smoltz led the Atlanta Braves to a 7-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 5 of the World Series, a special delivery arrived at the Braves clubhouse.

It was the hip-to-ankle cast that had been removed from catcher Greg Olson’s right leg on Monday.

The cast had been rubbed by the team during their ninth-inning rally in Game 7 of the National League playoffs. It had taken on such sentimental value, a member of the Atlanta charity where the cast had been donated for auction figured the team could use it again.

So it was mailed to Toronto on Thursday morning, and Olson fastened it back to his leg, and all the Braves rubbed it again.

“Brian Hunter didn’t want to rub it, so I rubbed it for him,” Olson said. “Yeah, it’s weird.”

But after the Braves scored in the first inning, they believed.

“In the seventh inning, I took it off and retired it for the night,” said Olson, who is out for the season because of a broken ankle. “It still has two games left. Who knows, maybe it helped.”

“Sure,” said second baseman Mark Lemke, still a tad skeptical. “I guess if we had it all season, we’d have gone 162-0, huh?”

Olson is treating the piece of ink-covered plaster as if it were a precious gem.

“I just hope that when I get off the plane in Atlanta (Friday) morning, I don’t leave it in the overhead compartment,” he said.