Bill Swift has mixed feelings

Former University of Maine All-American Billy Swift of South Portland watched the All-Star game on television on Tuesday evening. The San Francisco Giants righthander had the distinction of being the winningest pitcher not to be selected to play in the game.

He was snubbed by National League manager Bobby Cox, who chose three of his own pitchers ahead of Swift.

Swift is 11-5 with a 2.93 earned run average and all three Atlanta pitchers had fewer wins. Two of them, John Smoltz (8-7, 3.09) and Steve Avery (9-3, 3.46), had higher ERAs. Tom Glavine is 10-4 with a 2.90 ERA.

They all had starts after the team was chosen with Swift and Smoltz winning their starts while Avery and Glavine both lost.

“I wasn’t upset about not making the team at first but then they told me who made it,” said Swift. “Smoltz was 7-7 with an ERA of three-something. That doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t want to be in the All-Star game with a 7-7 record and a 3-something ERA. That’s not All-Star material. (Florida’s) Chris Hammond was 10-4. There were other guys that could have been on there. I guess he (Cox) wanted to protect his players.

“I thought I pitched better than Smoltz or Avery but he (Cox) gets to pick the guys,” added Swift. “But there’s nothing I can do. I’m surprised he didn’t pick (Atlanta’s Greg) Maddux. He was 7-7 but had a better ERA than Smoltz and Avery.”

National League Cy Young Award winner Maddux has a 2.84 ERA and a 7-8 record.

The snub cost Swift a $25,000 bonus.

Still, Swift is pleased with the way things have gone as he and the Giants have a healthy lead atop the National League West. The Giants lead the Braves by nine full games.

“Any time you win 11 games and have an ERA under 3.00, you’ve got to be happy,” said Swift. “The big thing was my health. I felt great the whole first half.”

Swift, who had some arm problems a year ago, said he was fortunate that he was able to come out of several games before he had reached the 100-pitch mark.

His good control – Swift fanned 80 and walked only 29 over 123 innings – helped reduce his pitch count. So did the offensive support of the Giants, who built up some sizeable leads for him that enabled him to come out of the game.

Swift continues to get a ton of ground balls with his nasty sinker and slider. He also mixes in a change-up, mostly to lefties.

“Everything has been working well for me. I’m not going to change anything,” said Swift. “I’m just going to pitch the same way in the second half. Hopefully, they’ll keep scoring 13 runs for me.”

Swift doesn’t feel the Giants have the division locked up yet but said they should be in good shape “if we can keep playing the way we have been and stay away from losing streaks. We always seem to bounce back after a loss.”

Even though he wishes he was pitching in the All-Star game, Swift said, “It would be a lot nicer to pitch in the playoffs. Maybe if I keep putting the numbers up, I’ll get selected to the All-Star game some day.”