Hardball Hyperbole: Chapter 33

In today’s edition, with his ankle throbbing and bleeding through his sock, Curt Schilling dominated the Yankees and the Red Sox evened the series at three games apiece.

Say what you want about Curt Schilling in his post-baseball life - and yeah, a lot has been said and not much of it positive - but in regards to his baseball life, this is what needs to be said: Flat out, unequivocally, the guy was a tremendous pitcher, one worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame.

Of course, Schilling did not get elected to the Cooperstown shrine after 10 years on the ballot because too many in the voting bloc condemned him for some of the controversial opinions and statements he has made since retiring from baseball in 2007.

However, we’re not here to debate politics. The First Amendment of the Constitution affords every American the right to speak freely, and no matter how many times he stirred up a hornet’s nest due to his political beliefs, it should not have impacted his candidacy for the Hall of Fame. But it undoubtedly did.

Don’t bother asking Red Sox fans if they care about any of that, because they don’t. You mention Schilling’s name in New England and you don’t hear about his publicly supporting the riot on Capitol Hill, or his comparing Muslims to Nazis, or his applauding a t-shirt with a message that journalists should be lynched, or that he publicly announced without permission that teammate Tim Wakefield and his wife were both suffering from cancer.

You ask Red Sox Nation about Schilling and you hear about how the big righty helped lead their beloved Sawx to their curse-breaking World Series championship in 2004, and then another title in 2007, or even the championship he won before he even joined the Red Sox, the one with the Diamondbacks in 2001 because the team they beat was the hated Yankees.

Caustic personality aside, Schilling will someday die a forever hero, and in the context of baseball, and curses, and championships, and getting over on the Yankees, there is no game that was more vital to that all-encompassing exorcism than Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS at Yankee Stadium.

It will always be known as The Bloody Sock game, and of all the victories Schilling earned in his 20-year career - 216 in the regular season, 11 more in the postseason including four in the World Series - none could top the 4-2 victory over the Yankees that evened the series at three games each.

Think about that for a second: He pitched a complete game shutout in Game 5 of the 1993 World Series which staved off elimination for the Phillies against the Blue Jays. He made three starts in the 2001 World Series against the Yankees including Game 7 and had a 1.69 ERA on his way to co-MVP honors. And he won both of his World Series starts for the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007.

But The Bloody Sock game reigns supreme because without it, the Red Sox lose in the ALCS to the Yankees for the third time since 1999, they don’t even make it to the 2004 World Series, and who knows what would have happened in 2007?

“It was definitely inspiring,” Johnny Damon said after Schilling overcame a torn tendon sheath in his right ankle to pitch seven gritty, gutty innings and limit the Yankees to a run on four hits and no walks. “He had someone looking down on him so he could go seven innings, and he knows it. He’s very proud.”

Schilling had gotten hurt in his start against the Angels in the divisional series on Oct. 5 and walking around on the ankle a couple days later gave him pause about the future. “Every step made me question my ability to pitch,” Schilling said.

A week later, after consultation with the trainers and manager Terry Francona, Schilling said he was ready for Game 1 against the Yankees but clearly he wasn’t. New York knocked him around and then out after three innings, and a disconsolate Schilling said that night he hurt the team and if he couldn’t be better than that, he would not pitch the rest of the series.

“I tried to be as tough as I could, and do it my way, Game 1, and I think we all saw how that turned out,” Schilling said. “I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to do this alone. And I prayed as hard as I could. I didn’t pray to get a win or to make great pitches. I just prayed for the strength to go out there tonight and compete, and He gave me that. I can’t explain to you what a feeling it was to be out there and to feel what I felt.”

We can debate whether God played a role in all of this, but there’s no question that Boston’s team doctor Bill Morgan did. The only reason Schilling was able to pitch Game 6 was because Morgan performed a procedure the day before where he sutured the ankle skin to the tissue surrounding the tendon in the hope that it would hold everything in place.

That allowed Schilling to start the game, and from there, it was his sheer determination that allowed him to keep going, even though the sutures were coming undone by the first inning and the blood became noticeable on his white sanitary sock thanks to countless zoomed in TV angles.

The discomfort was somewhat muted by a painkiller shot, though he was not completely pain free, plus there was some instability in the ankle when he pushed off the rubber. Still, even as more blood seeped out, Schilling owned the Yankees.

“I don’t think it’s been overdone, the whole ankle thing,” said Red Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler. “It’s incredibly courageous what he did and he should be commended. We are so proud of him tonight. We needed him. We could not have won this game if he had not done what he did tonight.”

Schilling retired the first eight men he faced and allowed just one hit in the first three innings. Jon Lieber matched his zeroes, but then in the fourth the Red Sox pillaged him for the only four runs they would score, the entire rally beginning with two outs and no one on base.

In succession, Kevin Millar doubled and scored on Jason Varitek’s single, Orlando Cabrera singled, and Mark Bellhorn - who was 3-for-21 to this point in the series - hit a stunning three-run homer and you could hear a pin drop in the big ballpark in the Bronx.

“It’s my first time being involved in something like this,” said Bellhorn, who had come to the Red Sox at the start of the season in a deal with the Rockies to be the replacement for departed second baseman Todd Walker. “Sometimes you try too hard, but my teammates kept pumping me up. For me to do something like this, it’s pretty big for me.”

It was pretty big for the Red Sox, too, especially with Schilling mowing down the Yankees. He wobbled to start the bottom of the fourth when Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield singled, but he retired three straight including Jorge Posada for the final out with the runners having moved up to second and third.

Two straight 1-2-3 innings followed and the reality was growing ever more likely that the Red Sox were about to become the first team ever to tie a series at 3-3 after losing the first three games. Finally in the seventh Schilling made a mistake and served up a one-out solo homer to Bernie Williams, but Francona stuck with him and he got out of the inning without further damage.

That’s when, with an uncomfortable 99 pitches having been thrown, Francona went to the bullpen to finish the game. Bronson Arroyo took over and gave up a run that made it 4-2, and then came a play that baffled everyone. With Derek Jeter on first after his RBI single, Rodriguez hit a roller between the mound and first. Arroyo fielded the ball and as he went to tag him, A-Rod slapped his glove and the ball came loose and rolled out toward right field as Jeter barreled around the bases to score a run that would have cut the Yankees deficit to one.

At first the umpire ruled A-Rod safe and the stadium was rocking, but after consultation, the call was changed and A-Rod was ruled out due to interference and Jeter was ordered back to first. After a several minutes delay to clear the field of debris thrown by the angry mob, Sheffield popped out to end the inning.

“I was upset that it turned out the way it did for a couple of reasons,” Joe Torre said. “First, they said Arroyo was in motion, it’s not like he was standing there. And (Doug Mientkiewicz) was in the base line and didn’t have the ball, which can be an obstruction play.”

There was still more drama in the ninth when Red Sox closer Keith Foulke worked around two walks before striking out Tony Clark to end it.

“These guys are phenomenal,” Schilling said of his teammates. “I’m just so proud to be a part of this team. We just did something that has never been done. It ain’t over yet; it ain’t over by any stretch against this team and this organization. We have as much respect for them as any organization in the game. I’m feeling pretty special about being a part of this club right now.”

The unthinkable was now happening. Game 7 for the AL pennant, a position the Yankees could not believe they were in after how the first three games had gone.

“That team over on the other side, they responded well,’’ Jeter said. ‘’They had three games that were do-or-die. Now we’re going to have to respond. We are going to find out about our team, how we respond to a do-or-die game.”

Jeter exuded his typical confidence that the Yankees would get the job done because they always found a way to get the job done. The team owner wasn’t so sure.

“Sure, I’m worried,” George Steinbrenner said. “The whole team is worried. We’ve got to win tomorrow.”

“We’re extremely tentative about talking about what we’re on the verge of accomplishing,” said Kapler. “But I think what we’ve accomplished thus far is the story at this point. I think obviously history shows that this doesn’t happen very often.”

Kapler might have been tentative, but the always gabby Millar was not.

“We have a chance to shock the United States of America,” Millar said, though at this point, it felt like the shock would come only if the Yankees reversed course and won.

NEXT WEDNESDAY: The Red Sox capped off the greatest comeback in MLB history by blowing out the Yankees in Game 7 to win the 2004 ALCS.