''Today, really, mind-set-wise, this is the first time I've been healthy in two years," said an enthused Schilling, after throwing 44 of his 58 pitches for strikes. ''Going out there to compete with nothing on your mind but your stuff is a real different feeling for me . . . The linescore didn't end up looking pretty, but I felt like I did a lot of really good things today in a lot of different areas. There's no outstanding questions other than performance when you're done with a game like this. There were a couple of fastballs where I felt like my old self again and that's the thing I've been searching for for a long, long time."
Schilling says he's intent on pitching inside this season. Duffy and Jeff Natale know what he's talking about. Pitching to Sox minor leaguers in Fort Myers last week, Schilling hit Natale with another 0-and-2 pitch. Yesterday, it was Duffy's turn.
In one of those only-Curt moments, Schilling blamed Duffy for getting hit in the head.
''Bottom line is, that ball should not have hit him," said Schilling. ''You've got to be able to get out of the way of that . . . There's just no way that they shouldn't be able to get out of the way of that pitch."
To the untrained ear, this might sound like Dick Cheney claiming his friend should have known better than to get in front of Cheney's shotgun blast. It's hard to remember another pitcher hitting a batter in the head and blaming the batter. But be patient, sports fans. There is logic to Schilling's position. He feels batters have become too comfortable stepping in against him because he works so well on the outer half of the plate. Now he wants to take back the inside half.
