BOSTON — On Saturday morning, the features section of The Boston Globe ran a lengthy, fawning piece on Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, his family and their charitable works in the area. The only drawbacks to the idyllic life were the facts that the veteran is a free agent at the conclusion of the 2007 season and their suburban palace is on the market.
On Sunday morning, scores of real estate agents and movers should have been at the property, ready to escort Schilling out of town.
The man who made one of baseball’s most memorable starts in his previous playoff appearance at Fenway Park, the bloody sock game in the 2004 World Series, was merely bloodied Saturday night in Game 2 of the 2007 American League Championship Series. Given a 3-1 lead in the third inning, Schilling couldn’t hold it, lasting just 4 2/3 innings.
“Everything about this one falls on me,” Schilling said. “This was all about me coming up small in a big game.”
Manny being Manny. There are some baseball purists who would argue that, with wild cards, division and league championship series, postseason records have been devalued. Even so, no player in major-league history has hit more playoff home runs than Boston’s Manny Ramirez, who belted his 23rd on Saturday night.
The previous record holder? No, not Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle or even Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson. Rather, it was one of the pinstripes’ other legendary figures, Bernie Williams.
After a 1-for-4 night, Ramirez is hitting .500 in the ALCS, and has been on base in seven of his 10 plate appearances. That meshes nicely with teammate David Ortiz, who is also hitting .500 and had a postseason run of reaching base 10 consecutive times through his first two at-bats Saturday.
“I know what they’re doing certainly can’t last a full year, but hopefully it can maybe be sustainable through a nice little playoff run,” Boston manager Terry Francona said.
