The Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Leo Mazzone had stopped rocking and sat up straight to make his point, so clearly he was serious.

"Well, there's a little more stress going on," the Atlanta pitching coach said. "We're not used to this."

That was a few days ago, when the Braves' staff found itself in unfamiliar territory - dead last on the NL ERA chart.

Strong outings by freshly signed Shane Reynolds and rookie Horacio Ramirez helped move them up a bit, but the reality is sinking in: Minus Tom Glavine, Kevin Millwood and Damian Moss, this rebuilt rotation is starting over.

On and off the field, in fact.

John Smoltz can feel it. His eyes looked away and his voice trailed off as he talked about Glavine.

"Miss him? Yeah, a lot," the Atlanta closer said. "For 15 years, we were doing the same thing. I mean, I'd wake up and not have to wonder where I was playing golf or who I was playing with. Now, I'm doing a lot more organizing than I used to."

That same day, with the Braves in Puerto Rico to play Montreal, Smoltz spoke by phone with Glavine before his start for the New York Mets at Pittsburgh.

"It's been one of the biggest adjustments for me, too. John Smoltz is one of my best friends, and not being around him still is a little bit strange," said Glavine, who left Atlanta as a free agent.

"The baseball is the same. ... But those are the things that come a little bit harder, those on the personal side. You miss being around some people."

The other member of the Braves' big three for all those years, Greg Maddux, echoed the same sentiment. During Atlanta's ongoing run of 11 straight division titles, it seemed as if the three Cy Young Award winners were always together in dugout.

Now, Glavine is gone and Smoltz is in the bullpen.

"Time takes care of a lot of things, they say," Maddux said.

The Braves went into the weekend with a 5.39 ERA, much better than their 6.29 mark after the first 12 games of the season.

General manager John Schuerholz is convinced they'll keep improving, even after trading Millwood and Moss and seeing Glavine leave.

To replace them, the Braves acquired three top starters in Mike Hampton, Russ Ortiz and Paul Byrd. They'd totaled only one win through the first 2 1/2 weeks, but that's mostly because Hampton was out until this weekend with a strained right calf and Byrd is sidelined until around July with a bad right elbow.

"It takes a while for a new rotation to jell, and that's when everyone is healthy," Schuerholz said. "Our rotation has been patched together, and we didn't expect to be in that role."

If anything, the turnover has given Smoltz a chance to get to know his new teammates better. Jung Keun Bong earned his first major-league win last week, and Smoltz got the save. But Smoltz, unaware it was Bong's first win, tossed the game ball into the stands.

Bong didn't seem to mind. And Smoltz, who runs the Braves' Kangaroo Court, kiddingly said he shouldn't be punished.

"Everybody else should be fined, because nobody told me," he said.