Curt Schilling
Curt Schilling
Curtis Montague Schillingis an American former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher, former video game developer, and former baseball color analyst. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series in 1993, and won championships in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 and 2007 with the Boston Red Sox. Schilling retired with a career postseason record of 11–2, and his .846 postseason winning percentage is a major-league record among pitchers with at least ten decisions. He is a...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth14 November 1966
CountryUnited States of America
I feel like I'm ready already. If my next start was Opening Day, I'd be very comfortable with where I'm at.
If it comes down to my final start of the season, that's going to probably be whether we go to the postseason or not, so it doesn't matter how I feel about where I am, ... I have to be there.
I used all my pitches like I did as a starter and we located well. I had good command and I pitched.
It?s a really neat thing, and then it?s over. Like anything else - starting Game One of the playoffs or the first game of the second half - it?s cool, it?s a big deal. And then it?s over. With the way this staff is set up, I don?t know if it?s as meaningful as the past, because there?s potentially a couple of No. 1?s in this rotation. By the end of the year, hopefully that will bear itself out.
I had a feeling coming into this game, that if they watched my last start, which a lot of teams do,
It's little things, just tying up loose ends,
I'm not trying to hit people, but at the same time hitters were very comfortable facing me last year, much more so last year than any year in the past. But there's something you can do about that as a pitcher and you've got to be proactive and do it.
I?m not trying to hit people, but last year, getting kicked around as much as I did, I got tired of it. Hitters were very comfortable facing me last year, much more than in years past.
I don't have an explanation for it. I just know the first three innings, I was pitching. We had a game plan and I was moving the ball, making my pitches. Then all of a sudden, I could feel it. When I threw a couple pitches in the fourth inning, I knew I had something extra on them.
In the fifth inning I thought I got more comfortable. I didn't throw my first split until the ninth hitter of the game, which is not something that happens to me a lot. I only think I threw three in the first four innings. A lot of that was confidence. I didn't feel real comfortable with it.
Guys look like Mr. Potato Head, ... with six or seven body parts that just don't look right.
I think I can be better than I was in 2004 simply because I have 2004 to use as an experience. I'm a year smarter on the hitters in this league. I don't go into any season looking to duplicate something I've already done. I'm trying to do something I've never done before.
My splitter was better, ... I've got to throw it. I have to have it. I can't not use it.
I tried to sequence some pitches and approaches as if I was facing big league hitters. But I pitched, and I haven't done that in a long, long time, since early 2004, without other questions going on.