Knuckle Curve » curt_schilling

Schilling to Remain in Beantown?

Geoff Young — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:22:49 +0000

Curt Schilling himself says, “it’s looking good” (have I mentioned lately that I love the fact that Schilling has a blog?), where “it” is the prospect of nailing down a 1-year deal that will keep him in Boston. I don’t have much to add in the way of analysis, so I thought I’d look back a little. This is from Bill Mazeroski’s Baseball ‘92:

In April [Astros manager Art] Howe handed the ball to Curt Schilling, who responded by converting five of his first six save opportunities. Hitters, though, eventually caught up to Schilling. His fastball has movement, but he overthrows everything. He has yet to develop a consistent off-speed pitch, and the longer he goes without fulfilling his potential, the more questions are asked about his makeup. As one scout observed, “Something is missing.”

Schilling was traded to the Phillies less than a week before Opening Day 1992 for Jason Grimsley. The rest, as they say, is history. Almost overnight, Schilling went from being a 25-year-old flamethrowing reliever whose star was falling to a top-flight starting pitcher.

Funny, this game of baseball…

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Competition or Destruction?

Geoff Young — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:06:54 +0000

So much for invincibility. Now that the Rockies can’t rely on that anymore, they’ll have to pick themselves back up and start playing good baseball.

The bad news is that Colorado got spanked in Game 1. The good news is that a 12-run loss counts exactly the same as a 1-run loss, so there’s plenty of time to regroup. Seriously, ask the 1960 Pirates.

Unfortunately, if the Rockies are going to make a stand, they’ll have to do it behind a kid making his 19th big-league start (Ubaldo Jimenez). Oh, and they’re facing a guy with 216 regular-season wins under his belt and a 9-2 career postseason record (Curt Schilling).

This could be a problem, especially given how well the Red Sox are playing. They’ve won their last four games by scores of 7-1, 12-2, 11-2, and 13-1. That’s not competition, it’s destruction…

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Fausto Faces Curt, Coco Sits

Geoff Young — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:41:41 +0000

The ALCS heads back to Boston. While the Rockies do whatever it is teams do while they’re waiting for their opponent to be determined, the Indians and Red Sox hook up for Game 6 on Saturday night (first pitch: 5 p.m. PT).

This is a rematch of last week’s Fausto Carmona/Curt Schilling showdown. The Indians won the earlier contest on the strength of a seven-run 11th inning. (Hey, if the Rockies are trying to trademark “Rocktober”, maybe the Indians could trademark “7-11″; you think?)

Where there are Red Sox, there is drama. This time it comes in the form of rookie Jacoby Ellsbury starting in center field over Coco Crisp. As a Padres fan, I love this move because maybe it will help drive Crisp’s price down this off-season.

Oh wait, we’re talking about the playoffs. Sorry ’bout that.

Well, then, I don’t really care who plays center. What I do find interesting is that apparently Boston considered replacing Dustin Pedroia at second base with Alex Cora. Then someone remembered that the Red Sox actually need to win this game, so that idea was shelved.

What was my point here? I dunno; you tell me…

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Two Sweep, Two More Seek Same

Geoff Young — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 15:51:39 +0000

Congratulations to the Diamondbacks and Rockies for completing their series sweeps on Saturday. The NL West is now 6-0 in the postseason, if you’re scoring at home.

Meanwhile, we’ve got two AL teams looking for the sweep on Sunday:

Red Sox at Angels, noon PT — The situation is looking bleak for the team that slaps “Anaheim” at the end of its awkward name. Jered Weaver and Curt Schilling hook up in this one. The Angels desperately need to find a way to contain David Ortiz. Yeah, good luck with that. Also, they need to start hitting. Did I mention it’s looking bleak for them? Yes, I believe I did.
Indians at Yankees, 3:30 p.m. PT — Jake Westbrook? Roger Clemens? Should be a mismatch, but Clemens finally overstayed his welcome — 6.18 K/9 this year. Still, the guy is one of the top 10 pitchers ever to play the game; if anyone has a little extra in reserve, it’s Clemens. The Indians have hit .329/.453/.614 over the first two games, while New York checks in at .121/.216/.273. It doesn’t get much uglier than that.

Happy watching!

P.S. If your team is out of it, and you just can’t bear to watch someone else bask in the glory, be sure to visit my friends at EMQB and Squib Kick for the latest football news. They’ve got your back.

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Four For Saturday

Geoff Young — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 16:42:13 +0000

Not as catchy as “Two For Tuesday,” but it will have to do. Real quick like, here are your games for today:

Tigers at Yankees, 12:55 p.m. PT — Two teams fighting for a playoff berth, Roger Clemens pitching… Clemens’ career ERA by team: Tor, 2.33; Hou, 2.40; Bos, 3.06; NYA, 3.99.
Angels at Red Sox, 4:05 p.m. PT — Same as above, but with Curt Schilling instead of Clemens.
Cardinals at Cubs, 12:55 p.m. PT — Take the NL Central, please. Nobody wants it, and here come the Cards. Gee, I sure hope another 83-win team wins the World Series this year.
Diamondbacks at Braves, 4:05 p.m. PT — Bobby Cox has his team in the wild card chase. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine have been replaced by Buddy Carlyle and Chuck James. But, oh, that is a fun lineup.

There you go…

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Bonds, Schilling, and General Silliness

Geoff Young — Wed, 09 May 2007 21:40:30 +0000

Oy. Where to begin. Seems Curt Schilling had some choice words to say about Barry Bonds on the radio the other day. Schilling’s manager, Terry Francona, wasn’t amused:

When I got my 11th e-mail, my buzzer was going off on my phone, and I finally got on and checked it and realized that for a guy that doesn’t talk much to the media, he sure does talk to the media.

How Francona manages to keep his sense of humor during this is beyond me, but good for him. Anyway, it gets better. Now Schilling has posted a public apology on his blog. I’m paraphrasing here, but the gist of it is, “blah blah blah.”

Of course, I’m being flippant. If I wanted this kind of nonsense, I’d watch MTV instead of baseball. Seriously, there’s a lot of garbage available for consumption. Let’s keep it out of our game, boys, shall we?

Meanwhile, Bonds inches closer to Hank Aaron’s all-time home-run record. I’ve said I would “celebrate” the chase by honoring Aaron, but lately I’ve been slacking in that regard. Frankly, the Bonds story no longer engages me in any way, which saddens me greatly. One of the most hallowed records in all of sports is on the verge of being broken and I don’t care.

That sucks.

Is there a point to all this? I don’t know. I guess if there is, it’s something along the lines of “shut up and play ball.” And I hate like hell that the cloud of steroids continues to hang over a sport I love.

To those that brought this upon us, I say, thanks for nothing…

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Bloody Sock Update

Geoff Young — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:03:06 +0000

In case anyone is interested, ESPN broadcaster Gary Thorne has apologized for getting the Curt Schilling bloody sock story completely wrong. Now the only thing left to determine is whether this whole affair is funny, sad, or both. Hey, that sounds like a poll:

{democracy:16}

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Bloody Sock? Maybe, Maybe Not

Geoff Young — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:54:07 +0000

Our friends at Gaslamp Ball have pointed to a story claiming that Curt Schilling’s infamous bloody sock from the 2004 playoffs may have been staged. David Pinto at Baseball Musings used to work at ESPN and knows Gary Thorne, the announcer who made the claim. Quoth Pinto:

Having seen Thorne screw up on the air many times with ESPN, I have no doubt that the Red Sox are right here. I try very hard not to dislike people, but I have strong professional dislike for Thorne.

And further down:

So I’m biased about Thorne. In my opinion, he’s sloppy. And in this case he’s very likely wrong.

Much as it pains me to defend Doug “My Way or the Highway” Mirabelli, I suspect — without having any insider knowledge — that Pinto is right in this case. I guess the moral of the story is, always consider your source. Even if it means defending Mirabelli.

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Webb Faces Peavy, and the Rest of Wednesday’s Key Matchups

Geoff Young — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:57:33 +0000

Ack, I’ve been slacking. Bad blogger, no cookie! Anyway, here are a few games I’ll be keeping an eye on today.

American League

Red Sox at Orioles, 4:05 p.m. PT – Curt Schilling faces Daniel Cabrera at Camden Yards. Since a poor showing on Opening Day, Schilling has pitched pretty well. Sure, he gave up five runs to the Yankees over the weekend, but have you looked at that lineup? On the other side, Cabrera has his walks down to a reasonable 2.39 per 9 innings so far. That’s down from the very ugly 6.32 he issued per 9 last year. The O’s also feature one of the more dynamic young hitters in the American League, Nick Markakis. I was just talking to a buddy of mine the other day about how quickly Markakis developed. He went from a projectable young guy to a bona fide stud faster than you can say Shawn Green.
Royals at Twins, 5:10 p.m. PT – Like offense? So do Odalis Perez and Sidney Ponson. It’s not that long ago that Perez was a promising young pitcher. He had a great year for the Dodgers in ‘04 and appeared to be poised for a breakout, but nothing much has gone right since then. Opponents are batting .378/.425/.486 against the left-hander this year. That’s a 911 OPS, and 911 is what Perez will be dialing after this one. Ponson, meanwhile, remains in the big leagues despite a profound lack of evidence that he can pitch. Opponents are hitting him to the tune of .389/.450/.667. Man, my neck hurts just thinking about it.

National League

Brewers at Cubs, 11:20 a.m. PT – Ben Sheets goes up against Ted Lilly at Wrigley. Sheets has struggled in the early going; acknowledging the small sample, his K/9 is particularly troublesome. It’s at 4.00 this year, down from 9.85 in ‘06. Anything can happen in 27 innings, and this could be a fluke; then again… Also, it’s nice to see shortstop J.J. Hardy finally catch up to the other talented young players in that Milwaukee lineup. On the other side, Lilly has looked fantastic and worthy of the huge contract the Cubs gave him this winter. Too bad the rest of his teammates aren’t doing much. Again, it’s early, but if you’re a Cubs fan, how can you not be a little disappointed by a 7-13 start after breaking the bank on free agents? I’m not worried about Lou Piniella’s health just yet, but I’m getting there.
Braves at Marlins, 4:05 p.m. PT – Is it me, or does it seem like these two teams have been playing each other pretty much since the season started? Tim Hudson and Scott Olsen hook up in this one. Hudson has been brilliant in his first four starts and looks to be over whatever brought him down last year, while Olsen has gotten off to a terrible start in his sophomore season. He’s getting pounded and walking guys — that’s a bad combination.
Padres at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m. PT – My own personal bias notwithstanding, I think this is the pitching matchup of the night. Defending Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb faces perennial CYA candidate Jake Peavy in Arizona. Webb started the season slowly but dominated the Padres last week in San Diego, fanning 13 batters in the process. Peavy, meanwhile, has pitched extremely well in three of his first four starts. He still isn’t as efficient as he could be, but he seems to be working more aggressively to hitters this year than last, so maybe that will work itself out over time. Either way, this has the potential to be a great pitchers duel.

There you go. Watch some baseball already…

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Schilling Talks about His Blog

Geoff Young — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:06:47 +0000

We noted a while back that Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has started blogging. Now one of my favorite baseball writers, SI.com’s Alex Belth, interviews Schilling about the experience.

Schilling talks about interacting with baseball fans:

Fans in Boston want to know why I threw a slider 2-0, or they want to know the difference between my fastball and my change-up. They are smart as hell, and for me that’s fun.

Schilling also points out what I think is going to be huge down the line — the way his blogging allows him to remove any filters between himself and the public:

I did a blog a couple of days ago and basically explained my contract situation. Yesterday, there was an article written by John Tomase in The Boston Herald. The article is, John introduces my blog, quotes my blog and then finishes the article. I just did an interview without having to deal with the media. I wasn’t edited, I wasn’t clipped. It was what I said, how I said it.

In other words, we’re now getting Schilling’s words as opposed to some individual’s interpretation of his words. That is both very exciting and a little scary. Mostly exciting, though.

Kudos again to Schilling for doing the blog thing and to Belth (a very respected blogger in his own right) for talking to him about it.

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