Smoltz Does Well in Session

John Smoltz was happy with his performance in a bullpen session today:

"By his own terms, he backed off the intensity. Just trying to follow the glove around a little bit. But I think he was real excited, felt real good about it," Francona said of Smoltz.

The team may now push up his return date to May 15 vs the previous date of June 1. Right now the Red Sox have an abundance of pitching but come mid May there should be an injured pitcher that needs to be replaced.