Red Sox put postseason fate in Schilling's capable hands

Game 6 of the ALCS.

The Sox trailing, 3-2.

Curt Schilling gets the ball.

Sound familiar?

"A lot of people were going to try to draw parallels to the things that happened in 2004, and to some degree maybe you can," Schilling said. "To each player, I think there's a different impact."

For the Sox, they hope tonight's game against the Indians has the same impact as the one three years ago against the Yankees.

In 2004, Schilling, pitching with a torn tendon and experimental surgery to keep it from slipping, allowed one run on four hits in seven innings as the Red Sox won, 4-2. They parlayed that win into their first World Series championship in 86 years.

The bloody sock from that game is now in the Hall of Fame, but there will be no bloody sock tonight. There will be no medical stories written, and the game probably won't be etched in Red Sox lore.

But Schilling remembers, and he draws from it.

"I went out against a team, the Yankee lineup in '04 was as good an offense as I've ever faced, and I was basically pitching on a broken foot," Schilling said Friday. "I had a lot less stuff than I have now, and I gave up one run over seven innings.

"There's no excuse for me not to be able to go out tomorrow with what I have now, and if I can execute perfectly, I can pitch as good, it not better.

"It's really one of the first times, I think, I've been able to draw on past experience like that in a real positive way."

Red Sox manager Terry Francona remembers that October night at Yankee Stadium and still is amazed by it.

"I remember the soap opera watching him throw in the bullpen and having the doctors and the trainers out there, and he really shouldn't have pitched," Francona said. "And I can't remember one moment ever thinking he wouldn't pitch, and not only that, that he wouldn't win. It probably wasn't fair."

The Schilling who will start tonight against the Indians is a different pitcher than the one who pitched against the Yankees three years ago. No longer does he have a 96 mph fastball that can save him. No longer does he pitch deep into games; six or seven innings are plenty for him now.

But he's still a crafty veteran who knows how to pitch, and he's learned to transform himself into a pitcher who utilizes what he has as he gets older.

Other pitchers have been successful doing this; now it's Schilling's turn.

"Once I said to myself, 'listen, this is what it's going to be. You're not going to reach back and get 96 anymore,'" Schilling said. "And until I could accept that, it was me fighting hitters, me fighting a game plan and me fighting myself. It was counterproductive."

Schilling's postseason success is almost legendary. He's 9-2 in 17 career postseason starts, the best winning percentage in major league history among pitchers with at least 10 postseason starts. He also has a 2.23 career postseason ERA, the third lowest among postseason pitchers with at least 100 innings.

He started this postseason with an impressive start against the Angels, throwing seven shutout innings, but he followed that with a 4 2/3-inning, five-run performance against the Indians.

Still, other than Josh Beckett, there's no one the Red Sox would rather have pitch in a key game.

"We're very confident in him," Eric Hinske said. "He's proven he can do it over his career. He likes the pressure; he thrives on it."

"Everyone knows what he's capable of doing," Alex Cora added.

Schilling shares the confidence of his teammates. He's never shied from taking the ball in big games, but he tempers that with a fear of failing.

Together, they serve as powerful motivation.

"I don't know how to phrase it, but I don't ever look on it as a selfless situation, and that it's all on me," Schilling said.

"I go out and do my job tomorrow and we win, or I don't and we lose. I don't think that's too much pressure or too little. It's just reality.

And then there's dealing with fear.

"There's always fear," he said. "I'm scared to death to go out and fail tomorrow. I'm terrified of letting my teammates down, the fan base down and the organization down because they're counting on me to survive and get past another day. I'm scared to death to not do well tomorrow.

"But I'm also very congnizant of the fact that that fear is something that has always driven me and always pushed me. In my mind in October, if you're going to have to win a game and your life depends on it, I want to be the guy you would say, 'absolutely, we want this guy on the mound.'"

So that's the Schilling that will take the mound tonight. Part reflective. Part confident. Part fearful.

"I know how good I can be," he said, "and if I can make myself the best I can possibly be tomorrow, then we have a real good chance to win."