A No Fireworks Fourth
Schilling Shelled in the Stix? The ankle is fine, but a transfer of power to make the signature Schilling fastball smoke consistently is not there yet. The PawSox pitcher is patient in the face of his toughest critic: Curt Schilling.

MikeScandura
MinorLeagueNews.com

Pawtucket, R.I. – Curt Schilling’s 4th of July rehab debut lacked fireworks. If it were a Broadway play, his act would have shuttered in the stix in previews.

Charlotte waxed Pawtucket, 9-2, as Schilling allowed five runs, all earned, on eight hits and two walks in five innings.

Granted, he threw 66 of 92 pitches for strikes and fanned eight, but his inability to throw a Curt Schilling-like fastball made him resemble your average Triple-A hurler, not the pitcher who led Boston to the 2004 World Series championship.

 

Perhaps the most keenly aware of the Red Sox star’s problems is his harshest critic: Curt Schilling.

“I think frustration is the word that probably defines today for me,” said Schilling, whose status won’t be determined until later this week.

“I didn’t pitch well. I did a lot of things wrong today.  The biggest concern for me is the inconsistency in the velocity. I’ve been hurt before … I’ve come back before. And I’ve been in situations where it was really tough for me to get my breaking ball feel back, my split, but never my fastball.

“Right now, I just don’t have a feel for my fastball. I throw one 87 and I throw one 93 and they feel the same. I throw one 92 and it feels like it’s 85. It’s not really something I can explain.” Schilling averaged 91 and topped out at 93 on the McCoy Stadium radar gun, according to PawSox pitching coach Mike Griffin. Not what the Red Sox want to hear with July games against the Rangers, Orioles, Yankees and White Sox. Schilling’s ailing right ankle passed this test with flying colors. He was placed on the disabled list April 29 with a bone bruise.  During the off-season he underwent surgery to repair a detached tendon.

“I feel great … my ankle’s not bothering me,” he said. “I feel great moving around on it.  We’ve been pushing (the ankle) between starts. It hasn’t gotten tired. It hasn’t fatigued. It hasn’t been sore. But to me, there’s a missing link I think in the transfer of power from the bottom of my foot to my hand. ”

Schilling experienced a nightmarish second inning during which Charlotte scored three runs on two hits plus two errors by second baseman Luis Figueroa and Schilling.

Schilling’s “E” came on a half-baked attempt at backing up home plate on an errant throw by Figueroa, sailing a throw past catcher Kelly Shoppach.

 “That was just a horrible job of backing up the base,” he said. “I got lazy and I wasn’t where I was supposed to be when the throw came in. I compounded one error with another one. Rehab or not, that’s the kind of thing that cannot happen.”

Schilling’s night might have ended sooner if right fielder Mike Lockwood had not robbed Roosevelt Brown of an extra-base hit leading off the third.

After an out, Brian Anderson and Greg Norton singled before he struck out Joe Borchard to squash the threat.

Schilling wasn’t as fortunate in the fourth when Wilton Guerrero hit a two-run homer that gave Charlotte a 5-0 lead.

One thing that can be said about Schilling is that he is the consummate team player. The last thing he wants to be is a lead weight around the Red Sox’ collective necks.

“There’s a bigger picture here to think of other than me getting back in the rotation,” he said. “There’s five guys who have pretty much thrown the ball well and we’re in first place.

“When I come back, I don’t want it to be a baby-sitting situation. I don’t want them to worry about having somebody up  (in the bullpen) when I go out there. I don’t want to be on a pitch count. I don’t want to throw this thing out of whack because I want to be back in the big leagues.

“That’s not what this team’s about. Somebody’s going to go to the bullpen when I come back and it’s going to be a starter. I don’t want to come back and pitch. I want to come back and be myself.”

Many a great show has had a hit tune like “I gotta be me.” For the Schilling show to make Beantown, his fastball will have to sing again.

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