NEW YORK -- Cross your fingers, Red Sox fans. And your toes, if you can.
In a cruel blow to one of their co-aces and their championship aspirations, the Red Sox last night faced the prospect of losing Curt Schilling to season-ending ankle surgery before he fires another pitch in pursuit of October glory. The Sox disclosed that Schilling pitched in Tuesday's 10-7 loss to the Yankees in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series with a dislocated tendon behind his right ankle.
The Sox, who initially described the injury as tendonitis, said they would explore every possible means to enable Schilling to start a potential Game 5 Sunday. But they could make no guarantee since their best effort to stabilize his injured ankle so he could pitch effectively Tuesday failed.
"We're going to take another shot at it and continue to use every medical technique under the sun to try to get this tendon stabilized so he can go out there again," general manager Theo Epstein said. "If we can't, he's done."
As in, wait till next year, at least for Schilling. He would undergo surgery both on his injured peroneal tendon and his right ankle joint, which he injured earlier in the season. The procedures would require him to devote the entire offseason to recuperating and rehabilitating.
The stunning twist forced the Sox to develop alternatives to their blueprint for postseason success as they prepared for the possibility of deploying exiled starter Derek Lowe to replace Schilling for Game 5. They also would finish the Championship Series with a 24-man roster.
As they scrambled to prolong Schilling's season, the Sox enlisted Dr. George H. Theodore, chief of the foot and ankle service at Massachusetts General Hospital, to rush to the Bronx and help team medical director William Morgan create a new brace to stabilize Schilling's tendon. A customized plastic brace the medical team developed for Game 1 worked during a test run Sunday in the bullpen at Fenway Park but lost its effectiveness under game conditions.
The Sox said they hoped to test a new brace as early as today at Fenway Park, though Schilling said after last night's game that the medical specialists had yet to fashion a better brace and he was uncertain if he would throw today.
"I'm not going to guess about anything," he said. "We're going to go the park [today], and we have some things we're going to try."
Schilling will receive an injection of the numbing agent Marcaine if he throws today, as he did before Tuesday's start.
"If he fails the next bullpen session, it's unlikely he'll go [Sunday]," Morgan said, "because he has to be able to pitch effectively."
