No-Hit bid was great, but not the only thing

-Besse

Don’t get me wrong. As a former Division 1 collegiate pitcher and owner of one no-hitter in high school, I realize how difficult it is to throw a no-hitter at any level, never mind at the major league level.

So what Curt Schilling did on June 7, 2007 was put forth an incredible effort, mixing up his low 90’s fastball with that devastating splitter he has been struggling to consistently find. In fact, in his outing against Cleveland on May 28 in which he went seven strong while recording 10 strikeouts, Schilling commented on his personal blog, 38pitches.com, that it was the “1997 version” of his splitter that decided to show up. I learned at the park last week that apparently he and John Farrell have been working on altering the grip just slightly, moving his fingers a bit further up the ball so that they are resting more towards the wide end of the seam (the horseshoe).

And while the four he punched out against Oakland certainly didn’t stack up to the 10 he sent packing against the Indians, what he did do was keep the A’s off-balance in soliciting 12 ground ball and 11 fly ball outs. Most of the outs were fairly routine, aside from Coco Crisp’s outstanding reaching catch on the run and Mike Lowell’s terrific stab and throw at third.

But most importantly, this all came, for the fourth time this season, after a Red Sox loss. That’s right. Schilling improved to 4-0 on the season when registering a decision after a Sox loss, while the Sox upped their record to 6-0 in games that Schilling started after a loss; Javy Lopez registered a decision against Baltimore on May 12 while Hideki Okajima was the beneficiary against the Yankees on June 2nd.

The reason I make this point the focus of my entry is because it has become vividly clear that Josh Beckett is now taking over as the ace of the Sox staff. At 9-0 and a 2.88 ERA, Beckett has been absolutely phenomenal and will start the All-Star game and take home the Cy Young as long as no more “avulsions” appear between now and October.

Schilling, meanwhile, has been extremely inconsistent. In 13 starts so far, he has provided Boston with eight quality starts. Of those eight starts, he surrendered only one run or less in five of them. So what’s the problem, you ask? Well first off, while eight out of 13 might be pretty good at the plate, Curt Schilling is not Kevin Youkilis. He’s a pitcher making $13 million this season to be a top-of-the-rotation guy. Eight out of 13 won’t cut it, especially when you look at those five not-so-quality outings. In those games, Schilling has given up four runs or more, and only once did he do it while finishing the 7th inning. He recorded a no-decision after leaving trailing 5-2 to the Yankees on April 20th; the Sox scored five times in the eighth to win it. All in all, these numbers are atypical of both Schilling and any bona fide ace for that matter.

And after his plea for at least $13 million next year during spring training, he’d have trouble arguing his case in court.

But where Schilling has been consistent, both this year and throughout his hopefully Hall-of-Fame career? As a stopper. He forever cemented himself in Red Sox lore during the great World Series run of ’04, particularly in that bloody sock Game 6 of the ALCS against the Yankees. And this year, as mentioned, he has refused to let the Sox losses pile up.

When you have Schilling, Beckett and Matsuzaka as your top three in the rotation, it’s going to be hard over the course of the season to lose three or more games in a row. At some point one of the three big guns will falter and it will happen as it did last week, when the Sox lost the series finale to the Yankees and then made it four straight after dropping the first three to the A’s. But Schilling stepped up again, and he did it in tight quarters.

The A’s have the best pitching staff in Major League Baseball, so it was no secret that the four game series would play out like a soccer match with each team trying to scratch together runs whenever possible. And Thursday’s match up against Joe Blanton, who was coming off a nine-inning shutout of Minnesota, was no different. In fact Blanton, after surrendering four first-inning runs against the Sox on May 1st, shut out Boston for six innings thereafter en route to a 5-4 win.

So to find Schilling tossing a no-hitter into the ninth while involved in a 1-0 nothing game was nothing short of the amazing. It was reminiscent of Jack Morris’ 10-inning gem for the Twins back in ’91. Lest we forget that John Smoltz was on the other side of the diamond matching Morris for seven innings. Or that game in Little League when we played Amaral’s Linguica and Adam Bielski and I both threw no-hitters. That’s right, no hits for either team over seven innings. And we combined to strike out 27 batters. Not afraid to admit I still hang em up on the glory days of my youth baseball achievements.

But as far as Schilling goes, there’s no question that he is not as consistent as need be to exist in the role of ace like that of Beckett this season. However, he still belongs at the top of the rotation. Because when the stars align and the Sox top spot in the rotation is slotted up against their opponents’ top dog, Schilling must be there. Whenever there’s hype being built up, whether it’s for a stickball game in the yard or Game 7 of the World Series, Schilling thrives at being in the midst of it. You don’t even need to ask him…he’ll be the first to let you know.

-Besse

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, pleast contact Besse, Keefe and Sharkey at sportsbrief.blogspot.com.