The team won the World Series last year for the first time in 86 years and has its largest division lead in more than three years, but the sky above Fenway Park in Boston is cloudy with turbulence and trepidation.
When will Curt Schilling be ready to resume his role as the Red Sox's No. 1 starting pitcher? When Keith Foulke recovers from knee surgery, will he return to the effective pitching he produced as the closer last season? Who will be the closer in his absence?
These questions and concerns would not be so critical had the Red Sox not dillied and dallied while the Yankees struggled. For all we know, the Yankees are still struggling, despite their five-game winning streak, but the Red Sox have not capitalized on the enigmatic efforts the Yankees made in the first half of the season.
Through each team's first 81 games, the Red Sox had only a four-game advantage over the Yankees. That's no way to put away a rival. In the Central Division, the White Sox were nine games better than the Twins; in the West, the Angels were seven games better than the Rangers. That's more like it. Four games? Not enough.
The Red Sox, however, could argue that they achieved that margin without Schilling, and now that they are on the verge of getting him back, look out. But the Red Sox don't know when Schilling will be ready to start for them.
"Foulke will be out four to six weeks; Schilling probably needs that same time to get ready," General Manager Theo Epstein said Thursday.
He was discussing the surprising Red Sox plan to have Schilling return from ankle surgery as a reliever. Before visions of Dennis Eckersley, Dave Righetti and John Smoltz appear before their eyes, the Fenway faithful should know that the Schilling initiative is not permanent. Or perhaps we should say it is not intended to be permanent. Minds and plans can change.
But if the Red Sox trust Foulke to pick up where he left off last October, not July 4, they won't need Schilling to become their closer. In those other instances, the pitchers' teams had reasons for making them relievers.
Eckersley had run his course as a starter, and his career was in jeopardy. Righetti had a penchant for wearing down late in the season, even becoming injury-prone. The Braves were desperate for a closer, and Smoltz was coming back from elbow surgery.
Epstein wasn't even ready to acknowledge Thursday that Schilling would be the closer when he returned to the Red Sox. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves," he said. "Schilling is on a rehabilitation assignment. The bullpen will take shape over the next week or so."
Schilling, Epstein said, isn't ready to throw 100 pitches with his usual command, adding. "One thing he's physically able to do now is reach back for something extra and throw with tremendous velocity. Rather than shut him down and try to build him up again and wait for him to be himself in the starting rotation, or throw him out there when he's not ready, we feel and he feels the best way is to put him in a short role."
Ask yourself a question: If the Red Sox take a 4-3 lead into the ninth inning of one of their four games with the Yankees in the first series after the All-Star Game, do you want Terry Francona to bring in Mike Timlin, or would you prefer he go with Schilling? Enough said.
The bullpen idea is supposed to give Schilling time to build up his arm strength so he can throw the number of pitches a starter needs to throw, 100 or more. But Thursday, Epstein wasn't talking about arm strength.
"When we think he's back enough and in good-enough shape physically, in Curt Schilling shape, to have command for 125 pitches, we'll talk about building him up," Epstein said. "Until then, we're looking for 25 pitches with Curt Schilling command."
It's virtually certain that if Schilling enters a game in the ninth inning, he will be as dominant as Smoltz, who is the best pitcher to compare Schilling with.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
UP IN SMOKE: More than half a dozen riders crashed out of the race, with Marquez’s title chances in doubt after driving off the track with flames flickering from his bike Jorge Martin yesterday won a crash-filled Indonesia MotoGP to extend his championship lead, while closest rival Francesco Bagnaia limited the damage by claiming the final podium place. The win leaves the Pramac Racing rider 21 points ahead of his Italian Ducati rival, who finished third behind Spaniard Pedro Acosta in sweltering conditions at the Mandalika International Street Circuit on Lombok island. In front of a crowd of 60,000 in motorbike-mad Indonesia, the 26-year-old put his tumble in Saturday’s sprint behind him, canceling out the gains his title rival Bagnaia made after securing victory in that race. “Thank you Indonesia. I am very happy.
RSS