Oh, and Manny Ramirez and manager Terry Francona appear locked in a steel cage match regarding Manny's availability to play left field, serve as designated hitter, or ride the pine while his hamstrings heal. It's not unlike last season's mysterious pharyngitis episode, which culminated with Manny puttin' on the Ritz when he was unable to put on a batting helmet.
All of which attached some urgency to the series finale at Angel Stadium, and the Sox came away with a much-needed win thanks to the efforts of Curt Schilling (12-4) and Ortiz, who hit a three-run homer, a triple, and a single.
"We knew we had to win," said catcher Jason Varitek.
Schilling was the definition of stopper. He pitched eight innings of three-hit ball, throwing 78 of his 113 pitches for strikes. The Sox are now 27-11 when Schilling or Pedro Martinez start. They are 23-29 in the other games. So the new riff off the old Braves mantra would be, "Pedro and Schill, then take a tranquilizer pill."
"We needed to win today," said Francona, who is no doubt aware that he's getting blasted back home in Boston. "Schill was a huge part of that . . . That's part of the reason he's here."
John Lackey handcuffed the Sox in the early innings and it looked like Schilling might be a 1-0 loser before Ortiz (25 homers, 83 RBIs) broke things open with his three-run homer in the sixth.
"We were down early, but there was no panic on the bench," said Varitek. "Kap [Gabe Kapler], Mac [David McCarty], David [Ortiz], Billy [Mueller], and Trot [Nixon] were all into it and that was big for us."
Schilling (3.04 ERA) said, "As inconsistently as we've been playing, a lot of it falls on the starting pitching to generate or create some momentum. We're playing without Manny now, and that's a huge hole."
Note that Varitek did not cite Ramirez. Note that Schilling mentioned Manny not playing. Connect the dots and wonder how long before the situation boils over.
