The proclamation, in content, was bold, but in tone it was merely matter of fact, suggesting that Curt Schilling genuinely believes what he said last night. No Schilling hyperbole. No grandstanding. No bravado. No veneer concealing something less. It was a statement of fact, pure and simple. And one to which Curt Schilling will be held for the remainder of this season.
''Feel good, feel healthy," Schilling said last night. ''Feel like I'm better than I've ever been."
Allow that one to linger.
''I have a slider now, I have a changeup, I'm pitching in drastically more than ever in my career," the veteran righthander continued. ''And I think the numbers are showing it."
Want numbers? Schilling, despite age (39), rain, and a capable Seattle lineup, masterfully maneuvered through eight innings last night. The Mariners touched him for three hits. It should have been four, but the big righthander barehanded a bounding Ichiro Suzuki shot up the middle in the fourth inning. (''Stuck out his big paw," Jason Varitek noted.) He fanned seven (including the side in order in the second) and walked none. In three starts, he is 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA. In 22 innings, he's allowed only 11 hits and 14 base runners.
The best number of all? His team won by a 2-1 score last night for the third time this season, before 36,431 at a wet Fenway Park. Last year? The Sox, in 25 games in which they scored two runs or fewer, went 3-22.
''That's a momentum builder, to help your offense," Varitek said.
''A nice way to win a ballgame," in the opinion of manager Terry Francona.
For much of the night, Schilling was locked in an old-school pitcher's battle, with an emphasis on the old (Jamie Moyer is 43). Moyer, it seems, has a lot in common with real estate. With both, there's only one thing that really matters.
''Location, location, location," Varitek said.
Moyer, who at this rate stands a chance of someday having his uniform number (50) and age intersect, threw the slowest average fastball in the American League last year, at 81.8 miles per hour, according to Bill James. And, in going 13-7, Moyer threw an astounding 1,169 pitches slower than 80 m.p.h.
Moyer's slow fastballs were exactly the salve at least one Sox batter needed. The Nos. 1-8 batters went 5 for 23 (.218) with 8 Ks against Moyer. The No. 9 hitter went 3 for 3, with two scorched doubles and two RBIs.
''Pitches in the middle, inside, that's my place," Alex Gonzalez said before last night's game. ''I'm a pull hitter. But balls are beating me [inside] because I have a long swing."
