Breathe easy Red Sox Nation, Curt Schilling will be here all season.
Amidst rampant New England panic questioning Pedro’s bad inning, Pedro’s early departure, Pedro’s lack of velocity and the supposed lack of respect Pedro believes he receives from the organization, Boston’s prized off-season acquisition made his debut for the Olde Towne Team on Tuesday afternoon in Baltimore and brought what fans and followers of the Local Nine most certainly needed now, and may be in search of further down the line.
Life after Pedro.
Armed with a fastball consistently in the mid-’90s, Schilling mowed down the Orioles over six innings, striking out seven and allowing just one run in leading the Sox to their first victory of 2004 and calming the mass hysteria following the team’s third consecutive Opening Day loss.
More important than his on-field contribution, however, was the piece of mind Schilling offered the Fenway Faithful; definitive reassurance that while Pedro will likely continue to piss and moan and float fastballs through what may be his final hurrah in Beantown, there will still be a rock in the Sox rotation that will, more times than not, deliver a win every fifth day.
Beyond that, it also means that if Martinez ever gets his act together – as myself and many others believe he will – the Red Sox will easily have one of the more dominant one-two punches in the game. On the other hand if he doesn’t, then Schilling will serve as reason 1A why Pedro will be offered the first ticket out of town.
There is no longer any question as to whether Boston is now a two-horse town. Curt Schilling has arrived, and as much as the organization will assure its fans and supporters that Martinez is the ace of a staff with championship aspirations, it appears as if that may be in title only.
For seven years now, Martinez has gone unchallenged as not only the top pitcher in the Hub, but in all of baseball as well. However the times have changed, and even a devoted Martinez supporter like myself has to admit that he is not the same pitcher who blew away the National League in the 1998 All-Star Game, or tossed five innings of no-hit relief in the 1999 American League Division Series.
He has become a finesse pitcher, cutting fastballs and running change-ups to compensate for eighth miles per hour on his fastball that seemingly went AWOL a few years back. His fragile body has not proven it can hold up over 162 games, and his fiery temper couldn’t even make it through Game 1 without drilling good pal David Segui between the shoulder blades out of frustration.
Despite all this, Martinez is still a great pitcher. His sheer desire to compete every time out dispels the notion that his ego or his temper gets in the way, because he is a prideful man who wants nothing more than to win at all costs.
However for the first time in his career, Pedro Martinez is sharing a rotation with a pitcher of his caliber, and while the Nation eagerly awaits the next starts of each of its pair of aces, the pressure is squarely on the shoulders of No. 45.
Curt Schilling has done his part. He has gone out, taken his turn behind Martinez in the rotation and earned a victory for his team. For the first time in memory, the Sox no longer have to string together the days between Pedro starts, nor cater to his every scratch, bruise and bellyache because Curt Schilling has taken away his bargaining chip of being the sole life force of the Red Sox staff.
So as Red Sox Nation enjoys what should be the first of many Curt Schilling victories, the gauntlet has unofficially been thrown down. The time to put up or shut up is here, and if Pedro is unwilling to simply do his thing for the good of the team, then his replacement has already been found.
Mike Marzelli is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].
