Schilling: stronger showing

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- He's pitched five times in the last 12 days, once in Fort Mill, S.C., twice in Pawtucket, and twice in Syracuse, N.Y. But come Thursday night, Curt Schilling will be in the home bullpen at Fenway Park, available to pitch for the Red Sox for the first time in 81 days and labeled a reliever for the first time in 13 years.

The Sox won't announce this until midweek, probably Thursday, but Schilling has reached the point where he is as major league-ready as he's going to be any time soon. As he packed his bags yesterday evening following a promising eighth inning for Pawtucket -- one hit, one strikeout, no runs -- against Toronto's top affiliate, Schilling made it clear that he's had enough of the minor leagues.

''I thought it was enough Wednesday," he said. ''It's been out of my hands. I'm hoping to be ready to go for the second half, absolutely."

Asked yesterday how Schilling will be deployed, general manager Theo Epstein said, ''That's Tito's [Terry Francona's] role. I'll say the same thing he did. Schilling will save some games and [Mike] Timlin will save some games."

Schilling entered with a 4-0 lead in the eighth hoping to pitch two innings. But, Epstein's orders for PawSox manager Ron Johnson were one inning, nothing more.

''We thought that was the wise thing to do pitching back-to-back [days]," Epstein said.

Schilling, who needed only seven pitches Saturday night to record a 1-2-3 eighth, threw 16 yesterday, 11 for strikes, against the top of the Syracuse lineup. He threw 10 fastballs, all between 86 and 93 miles per hour, averaging 90. His last three fastballs buzzed in at 93, 92, and 93, respectively. He threw four splitters, all at 82 or 83 m.p.h., and two keen backdoor sliders, both at 85 m.p.h.

How did he feel?

''Good," he said. ''Better. Better than I did [Saturday]. Velocity-wise, I felt stronger."

Schilling's inning began with a single before he recorded a pop out, a strikeout looking, and a fly out. The whiff was of the team's top slugger, Kevin Barker. Schilling began Barker with a called strike at 87 m.p.h, then reached back for something that eclipsed the outside corner at 93 m.p.h. for a called strike two. Barker fouled off a splitter before looking at another 93 m.p.h. heater up and away for strike three.

Schilling, in his three relief appearances over the last four days, compiled this line: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 4 K. He pitched the ninth inning once and the eighth inning on two occasions. But he appeared in no save situations, nor did he enter any game in the middle of an inning or pitch multiple innings in relief.

While Francona said earlier in the week that he would not call upon Schilling in the middle of an inning because the 38-year-old needs more time to warm up than the average reliever, Schilling said that thinking has changed.

''I think that was more a precautionary thing initially," Schilling said. ''There's not going to be any restrictions as to how they use me. I can be ready in a phone call."

Yesterday he warmed up twice over 23 minutes. In the top of the seventh, he threw approximately 20 flat-ground warmup tosses, sat for 10 minutes, then threw 15 more. He followed that with 35 pitches off a mound before entering the game.

Schilling's pregame and in-game routine will be a source of interest this week, especially in the wake of Johnny Damon saying he'd prefer Schilling not close.

''He throws 60 pitches to get loose for a game," Damon said. ''He needs to get loose. Two outs in the eighth, a home run is hit, get ready, 10 pitches, he can't do it."

Asked over the weekend whether he spoke to his teammates about his new role, Schilling said, ''No. I'm not going to talk about it, either."

But, in Schilling's mind, he still prefers to be where Damon wants him: in the rotation.

''I was hoping I was going to finish out the game here and pitch the last two [innings]," he said yesterday, when Cla Meredith pitched the ninth. ''Because to me, the end goal is to still get back in the rotation, the sooner the better.

''I don't think it's going to be a problem going from where I'm at to stretching it out if it happens. If we make a trade for a closer and I go back in the rotation there might be a start or two where they don't want me to throw 125 pitches, but I don't imagine it would take long at all."

The problem of greater significance is ankle strength, though Schilling has one big reason to believe his ankle will be less burdened this time than during his three April starts (1-2, 8.15 ERA).

''I'm about 15 pounds under what I came to spring training at," he revealed. ''I was 252 when I came to spring training. I'm 237 now."

The effect this will have?

''It's immense to me," he said. ''Doing anything high-impact resulted in two to three to four days of downtime. It was more a matter of just trying to maintain [strength] between starts rather than getting better for the next one and better for the next one and better for the next one."