Red Sox fans fret over Schilling’s poor start

BOSTON (Reuters) – Grumbling among Boston Red Sox fans is
growing louder after Curt Schilling, the team’s ace pitcher,
was pounded in his eagerly-awaited return to the starting
rotation.

The Boston Herald ran a column on Friday with the headline
“Schill no thrill,” echoing the concerns of Red Sox fans after
Schilling allowed six earned runs over five innings to
baseball’s worst team, the Kansas City Royals.

“While no one expected him to hurl a shutout his first time
out, getting bombed wasn’t exactly factored into the equation,”
Boston Herald columnist Karen Guregian wrote. “Let’s just say
if that doesn’t change, the Sox are in trouble.”

Last year, Schilling played a crucial role in the Red Sox’s
first championship in 86 years, winning more than 20 games
during the regular season and pitching valiantly in the
playoffs despite an ankle injury.

It’s been a different story this year.

After off-season surgery, Schilling struggled in the early
part of the season before going on the injured list. He
returned in a reliever’s role and recorded nine saves as
Boston’s closer, but did not display dominating form.

With the playoffs drawing near and the Red Sox 2-1/2 games
ahead of the New York Yankees, Schilling made his first start
since April 23 on Thursday. He had good velocity on his pitches
but Royals’ batters made him pay for poor control.

“What Sox fans want to see more than anything — Schilling
retiring batters with the same ease he did in 2004 — he could
not reproduce,” wrote Boston Globe columnist Gordon Edes.

To have Schilling at full strength could be even more
important this year because the Red Sox cannot rely on Pedro
Martinez, who joined the New York Mets as a free agent during
the winter, to pick up the slack.

“The conventional thinking is that the Sox will not go deep
into October without Schilling restored to the top of the
rotation, and maybe that will be proven right,” said Edes.