Schilling ready to 'start right now'

CHICAGO -- Curt Schilling, in a wide-ranging interview before last night's game, thinks he can ''go back and start right now" and offered a possible explanation for his implosive relief debut July 14 against the Yankees, an outing that stands in sharp contrast to the four effective appearances he's delivered since.

''Everybody wants to get on Bronson [Arroyo] for the things he did the night before he pitched [performing a concert July 13], but I had my family in Disney over the All-Star break for a vacation," Schilling said. ''I didn't get back until Thursday morning."

Schilling's vacation culminated with an appearance at ESPN's awards show, the ESPYs, the night before the Yankees game. He then flew all night with his wife and children, landing in Boston the morning of the game.

''I woke up when we landed, about 7:30 [a.m.]," Schilling said. ''I slept most of the flight and slept when I got home, but it was probably not the optimal situation, and that's nobody's fault but my own."

Schilling entered a tie game, allowed a scorched double to Gary Sheffield, then surrendered Alex Rodriguez's home run on an 81-mile-per-hour splitter, turning a 6-6 game into an 8-6 loss. Travel plans aside, Schilling was asked if that outing left him with serious doubts about his ability to pitch effectively this season.

''Yes," he said. ''I just felt like the electricity in that ballpark and the emotion I felt should have resulted in something very different stuff-wise. I felt like if I couldn't get it up there I was going to have some issues."

But, Schilling, since that game, has compiled this respectable line: 4 G, 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 Ks, with a 1-0 record, one save, one blown save, and a 1.80 ERA. Thursday night in Chicago he touched 94 m.p.h., pitched two full innings in blowing a save but gaining a win, and struck out Carl Everett to end the game with a biting, vintage Schilling splitter.

''I think I can go back and start right now," he said. ''If I had a couple starts where I throw only 100 pitches, I think I can do that. I think I'm much closer to being able to do that than I was seven days ago.

''I want to go back in the rotation as soon as I possibly can. Me going back in the rotation is not solely dependent on me. If I go back next week, I'll be ready."

But can he be what he was last season, a 21-6 pitcher with a 3.26 ERA?

''I think I can be every bit as good as I was, hopefully better, because I pitched with this thing [an injured ankle] all of last year," he said.

But could that happen this year, given that he's only eight months removed from ankle surgery?

''I don't know," he said. ''Why not this year?"

One reason: Because he said during his recent rehab stint that his ankle would need 18 months to completely heal, and any strength regained short of 18 months would be, in his words, ''a bonus."

''Well," he said last night, ''that doesn't mean it's going to be 18 months, or that I'm not going to be healthy enough where it affects my pitches. Maybe it's going to affect my mobility and my endurance and working out. It might not affect me on the mound."

Schilling really believes this because, to his surprise, over the last week, ''my stuff has all changed. My sharpness, my command, that's all different. I'm definitely more confident. My stuff has come."

The odd part of all this, Schilling said, is ''I don't feel any better physically. I don't feel any worse. The one thing I've realized is the pain I feel in the foot isn't directly related to my stuff, which I think is a very big thing. I have not, since the time I pitched against the Yankees in my first appearance, I haven't felt any better physically.

''But I've gotten better on the mound. So I think I was reading way too much into how I feel, when I probably shouldn't be."

Some second thoughts
Tony Graffanino singled twice last night and is hitting .364 (4 for 11) in three starts at second base since joining the team . . . On the topic of the second base situation, Francona was asked if the team had planned to stick with Mark Bellhorn indefinitely, as he continued to struggle. That decision was made for the team when Bellhorn injured himself diving for a Jason Giambi grounder Sunday night. ''[General manager] Theo [Epstein] and I had talked," Francona said. ''The timing [of the injury] was interesting because we had some discussions and we told Bell that." . . . Matt Mantei underwent left ankle ligament surgery Thursday. Mantei initially considered two alternatives -- arthroscopic surgery and a cortisone injection -- but, when surgeon George Theodore cut into Mantei's ankle, it became quite clear the decision Mantei made was the proper one. ''The ligament [damage] was quite extensive," Francona said.

Orioles trying to deal
While the Baltimore Orioles were front and center on the A.J. Burnett (6-6, 3.68 ERA) front yesterday, the Sox remain very much alive for the Marlins pitcher, as well as for J.C. Romero, the Twins' lefthanded reliever. The Orioles stepped up their attempts to acquire Burnett by involving a third team in the deal, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. But Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson, who would have wound up with the Devil Rays, reportedly would not waive his limited no-trade clause, which included the Devil Rays. Under the proposed deal, the Orioles would have acquired Burnett and third baseman Mike Lowell for reliever Jorge Julio, rookie pitcher Hayden Penn, outfielder Larry Bigbie, and Ponson. The Marlins would have sent Ponson to Tampa for reliever Trevor Miller, with the Devil Rays responsible for paying just $2 million of Ponson's $11 million deal next season. The Baltimore Sun reported in today's editions that the Orioles are no longer willing to accept Lowell as the part of a Burnett deal, and may be talking to the Padres about a deal that would swap Ponson for first baseman Phil Nevin.
Gordon Edes of the Globe staff contributed to this report.