Inside info from Schilling

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Curt Schilling hit Pittsburgh's Chris Duffy in the head with a fastball Saturday and said Duffy has ''got to be able to get out of the way of that."

On Sunday, Duffy, who suffered a mild concussion, said that if Schilling is going to pitch inside, he's ''just got to take responsibility. You've got to go about it in a classy way."

Yesterday, Schilling responded, saying, ''It had nothing to do with accountability. I hit him. I know I hit him. I couldn't explain the situation the way I [wanted to]. Again, I can understand how it reads. It doesn't translate well into text.

''In response to what Chris said, I can understand how he can take that to be what I didn't intend it to be."

Still, Schilling doesn't have the oomph on his fastball that he once did, and he came to camp this spring wanting to get word out that he intends to take back the inner half of the plate. Presumably, any publicity is good publicity.

''That sounds cheesy if you use it that way," Schilling said.

But word is out, isn't it?

''I don't know how it's going to be perceived," said the 39-year-old righthander, who is scheduled to start Opening Day at Texas. ''I'm not going to elaborate because it's not going to come out right until I talk to somebody."

Schilling had a phone number for Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy in his hand and presumably intended to talk to Tracy and/or Duffy. (A light aside: Schilling, when asked if he planned to give Duffy a ring, said, ''I've already given him a ring.")

Asked if wanted to touch base with Duffy to apologize, Schilling said, ''No. I wanted to find out how he's doing. He had a slight concussion."

Schilling next pitches tomorrow, but in a minor league game, so he can avoid busing to Fort Lauderdale and facing the Orioles. Schilling doesn't want to oppose American League East teams during the spring, so he's scheduled to make five of his seven spring starts against either college teams (Boston College) or minor leaguers.

''I don't care," said manager Terry Francona. ''He gets out of it whatever he needs."

That means Schilling has only one spring start left against a big-league club. That club: Pittsburgh, at City of Palms Park March 29, nationally televised on ESPN.