John Smoltz is scheduled to make his Red Sox debut against the Nationals on Thursday. He has been sidelined for more than a year, and will be making his first pitching appearance for a team other than the Braves. "I wish I could probably sleep here," Smoltz said Wednesday of Nationals Park, "and make sure I'm here tomorrow." Smoltz had shoulder surgery for a torn labrum in his right shoulder last June. "This is not the old or the new or the done," Smoltz said. "It's just a new chapter in which when I have a baseball in my hand, I feel like I can make a pitch and do the things I have to do to take the sting out of the bat. And if that's the case, we'll progress and keep getting better every time out. But tomorrow is just one rung in the ladder to try and climb as far as I can to see how good I can be, and really at the end of the day to be in position to pitch in the playoffs."