Dragnet Boston Rox: Rockies at Sox

OK Curt Schilling, the world is watching. Again. Are you ready for another close up?

Curt Schilling: playoff veteran and notable big game presence, is on the hook for Game 2. That’s where he’s always wanted to be in the past, and Boston knows it needs him to be there again.

A day after Josh Beckett was so dominant that he drew comparisons to Bob Gibson, the aging former ace takes the hill in Game 2 with a chance to give Boston a dominant advantage in the World Series.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that he had an almost identical opportunity a little less than two weeks ago, with the Indians reeling, down 1-0. That one didn’t work out too well. For the record, that’s the lone smudge so far on Schilling’s 2007 postseason resume. He looked dominant against an anemic Angels lineup in Anaheim, just as he did in the 2004 ALDS. And he bounced back from his rough start against Cleveland to win the do-or-die Game 6, setting the stage for all of the Game 7 heroics that sent the Sox back to the series.

But even Schilling now admits that he doesn’t know which pitcher is taking to the mound when he walks out there anymore. He’s not the power pitcher who took control of the 2004 postseason and all but willed Boston a world title, with a handful of assists, of course. Instead, this is a guy who has to be perfect with his location and pitch sequence to get by with fastballs that cruise in at 92-93. At best.

In short, this Schilling is hittable, that one wasn’t.

Luckily for Schilling and the Sox, this Boston team enters Game 2 absolutely clubbing the baseball. Last night they got to Colorado starter Jeff Francis early - see Dustin Pedroia’s lead-off homer - and often. And Francis, by all accounts, is the absolute ace of the Rockies’ staff. Now Colorado is relying on a young pitcher with electric stuff but an equally flippant personality to resurrect it’s hopes of a Fenway split.

With the way Ubaldo Jimemez has pitched in the postseason, that could very well happen. But if Boston’s bats show up with as much patience and power as they did last night, it might not even matter.

If it does matter, then the focus shifts squarely back to Schilling, warts and all. In the past, that’s exactly where he’s wanted it. Now, Boston fans have to hope he has a few more games like that in him.

– Cameron Smith