Closer strikes out side in first action
FORT MYERS, Fla. --Keith Foulke slapped the label "Public Enemy No. 1" on himself because of his poor pitching last season. If his knees were still injured, he said, "I'm a Tuesday night softball guy."
Fortunately for the Red Sox, the right-hander who doesn't throw very hard to begin with had operations on both knees and is optimistic that he can be a successful closer again.
"I feel great," he said Friday after pitching against a minor-league team in his first spring training game. "With another week of refinement, I'm going to be just fine."
Foulke struck out all three batters he faced but must overcome his late start as he came back from the surgeries and had three recent injections in each knee of the joint lubricant Synvisc. He won't pitch in a major league exhibition game until Saturday against Toronto, nine days before the Red Sox open the season in Texas on April 3.
In his last game there on July 4, Foulke allowed five consecutive runners to reach base on a triple, double, walk, hit batsman and game-winning single by Kevin Mench. The Rangers won 6-5 after Foulke entered with a 5-4 lead in the ninth.
"Oh, I remember very vividly," said Foulke, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee three days after the game. But "what I learned about last year is that I can put last year behind me. It's done. It's over. It's not going to have any effect on this year."
Last year he was 5-5 with a 5.91 ERA, the first time in seven seasons it was higher than 2.97. He had just 15 saves and made 43 appearances, his fewest in eight seasons.
The previous fall, he was a World Series star. He finished all four games of Boston's sweep of St. Louis and fielded the final out on Edgar Renteria's grounder, clinching the Red Sox' first championship in 86 years.
"One season I was to the top and the very next season I was Public Enemy No. 1, but I learned about myself," Foulke said. "I'm going to fight. I fought all winter to get back. I'll continue to fight for the rest of my career."
One lesson he didn't learn was how to handle failure.
"I'll never be equipped to handle failure," Foulke said. "I'll come in kicking, screaming, throwing stuff, cussing and breaking stuff. I don't handle failure well at all. The day you handle failure too well is the day you should be sitting on the couch."
He succeeded Friday when he pitched for the Pawtucket Red Sox in the eighth inning of a 7-6 Triple-A win over the Ottawa Lynx, a Baltimore Orioles affiliate. He got three batters to swing at third strikes on different pitches -- a high fastball to Woody Cliffords, a splitter that bounced to Morgan Clendenin and a changeup to Gera Alvarez.
Curt Schilling, who pitched the first seven innings, stuck around in the dugout to watch.
"He was phenomenal," Schilling said. "That's as good as I've seen him look since October of 2004."
Schilling struggled last season with his own ailment, a wounded right ankle, and was 8-8 with a 5.69 ERA. On Friday, he struck out 10 with no walks but allowed five runs on eight hits. More importantly, his ankle "isn't even an issue now"
He threw 109 pitches, 82 for strikes, and said he felt strong at the end. His second and last exhibition outing against a major league team before his opening day start is scheduled for Wednesday when he faces Pittsburgh for the second time.
"If Wednesday was opening day, I'd feel like I'm ready," Schilling said.
Foulke expects to be ready, too, and should have at least four major-league exhibition appearances.
Friday's performance "was definitely a step in the right direction," he said, but he wants to prove to his teammates that last year's struggles won't be repeated.
"Most of them know that I am a pretty good pitcher," he said, "but it'll be nice when they have that confidence in me again, when I come running out on the mound you can almost put (a win) in the books."
