DENVER -- The doctor was waiting. So was the MRI machine -- and an imminent decision on Curt Schilling's fate.
In his last stand before the Red Sox determine whether his ankle injury is serious enough to warrant a stint on the disabled list, Schilling last night pitched as if he were defending the Alamo, firing everything he had at the Rockies amid a siege that left him in dire need of help -- if not from the medical team, then at least his relief corps.
Schilling used the anesthetic Marcaine to ease the discomfort caused by the bruised bone in his right ankle joint. But it would take a lot more than Marcaine to salve the pain for the Sox of dropping a second straight game to the Rockies, one of the losingest teams in baseball.
With Schilling struggling mightily, the Rockies dealt him his first defeat in six starts since May 13 by twice overcoming deficits en route to a 7-6 victory before 39,319 at Coors Field. The loss dropped the Sox a season-high 5 1/2 games back in the American League East as the surging Yankees cruised past the Diamondbacks, 9-4, in Arizona.
"We're not playing well," Schilling said. "We're a much better team than this. We've really got to batten down the hatches and start doing the things we do best, which is good starting pitching and pounding the baseball."
Schilling's encounter at hitter-friendly Coors was a 113-pitch case study in misery as he surrendered seven runs (five earned) on nine hits, four walks, and a hit batsman. He had allowed more than nine hits only once this season (a 13-hit thumping by the Blue Jays April 22). He had not walked four batters in a game since April 17 against the Yankees. And he had not hit a batter since April 11 against the Jays.
But Schilling said his ankle has improved considerably and attributed his struggles more to shoddy command than physical infirmity.
"It feels better and it feels stronger," he said. "That's why tonight is as disappointing as it is. As good as I felt, I just had too much trouble executing."
Schilling, who dropped to 8-4 while his ERA rose to 3.31, departed for Boston after the game. Dr. Bill Morgan, who flew to Denver yesterday to monitor the righthander's condition, was scheduled to conduct an MRI tomorrow to determine if Schilling's injury has worsened. If it has, he is likely to land on the disabled list. But Schilling seemed confident he would make his next start Tuesday against the Twins at Fenway Park, saying he took a second injection of Marcaine after the fifth inning solely as a precaution.
"I do feel like I've turned a corner in the last three of four days," he said.
Still, his ordeal was so difficult that he managed to retire the Rockies in order only once. The Sox gave him leads of 1-0 in the second inning and 3-2 in the fourth, but he was unable to protect them.
