Schilling left one strikeout shy of 3,000 for his career. Hestruck out seven and could have become the 14th pitcher inmajor league history to record 3,000 punchouts, but afterthrowing 104 pitches, and failing for the fourth time torecord his 15th win of the season, he will have to wait untilWednesday in Oakland for the milestone.
Schilling pitched for a lineup that excluded Manny Ramírez,who will play left field tonight after being diagnosed withpatellar tendinitis in his right knee, and without first basemanKevin Youkilis, who had the flu. The Sox managed onlyfive hits against three pitchers, including starter Jake Woods,who surrendered three hits and struck out four in his secondmajor league start.
‘‘It’s huge,’’ said Schilling, when asked about Ramírez’s absence. ‘‘You’re missing a guy whois a legitimate MVP candidate.That’s huge. I keep going back toall the other teams in contention,and they’re all dealing with injuries.You have to have the depth,the talent, and the perseverance.From where I sit, it all starts onthe mound. It’s all about momentumon the mound. Not beingable to do that is frustrating.’’
Schilling said it wasn’t just Ramírez.It was about all 25 playersnot playing well at the same time.
‘‘You don’t need me to namenames,’’ Schilling said. ‘‘It’s all ofus. You’ve got to set the tone [onthe mound] and maintain momentum.If your team isn’t goingto score a lot of runs, you can’tgive up a lot. I just think we’replaying bad baseball.’’
Schilling called it a ‘‘weirdgame’’ because he felt good, yetdidn’t pitch well.
‘‘People can come up with a lotof reasons, but it is what it is rightnow,’’ he said. ‘‘With the injuriesand a first baseman who is playingout of position [Mark Loretta]and playing hurt. We did so manythings on so many sides of theball. It had the look and feel of agame where we were going to getsome runs, and with this offense,you count on this lineup doingsomething. You usually have alineup that takes advantage ofthat.’’
