Curt's bloggin'

As the more astute baseball fans know, the loquacious former Phillie and current Red Sox, Curt Schilling, has a blog. It's called "38 Pitches," which is really clever because Schilling is a pitcher and he wears uniform No. 38. See, clever.

But unlike most jock web sites or blogs, Curt actually dives into the fray on his. He has the comments section wide open, updates it fairly regularly and probably even picked out the design by himself with help from the good folks at WordPress. And yes, they are good folks.

Anyway, Curt lets it fly on his site, which we mentioned earlier, is pretty cool. After all, if one is going to operate a blog they need to:

• Update it regularly
• Keep it from getting stale
• Keep it from being boring

With those rules in mind I'll offer a pre-emptive apology.

Curt has no reason to offer such an apology, though he should offer some sort of mea culpa for the shoddy grammar and stylistic errors. C'mon, big fella - English isn't a second language is it?

Jokes aside, in his latest rambling post that reminds me of that scene in the underrated film Election when Chris Klein gives his breathless campaign speech in the gym in the all-school assembly, Curt starts with offering kudos to Josh Beckett for winning the MVP of the ALCS, then moves on to lauding his skipper Terry Francona for just being Tito, and then opines on the Joe Torre situation and the Yankees.

About Torre and the Yanks, Schilling writes:

A few random observations. The Red Sox in me is happy Joe Torre is no longer in charge in NY. The person in me wonders how does a guy who obviously has the respect and loyalty of his entire roster, a guy who's taken his team to 12 straight post seasons, a guy who exudes class and respect, how does he, in the midst of what might have been his most challenging and defining season and post season, not only have to manage his team in a best of 5 win or go home series, but also answer a billion questions about being basically told ‘win or you're out'? How did it come to that? I have never had a chance to get to know Mr Torre beyond handshakes of congratulations or hellos, but I have never heard a player on his team utter anything but respect for the guy. Much like Boston, managing a 175m+ roster of super star players, in that market, with a hack to writer ratio bordering on 100-1, how does he basically win pretty much every year, get to the post season and get an ultimatum at THAT point in the season? I have always thought very highly of Mr Steinbrenner as well, anyone that pours that much of himself into his team, is that dedicated to his teams fans is ok by me and I would think ok by pretty much anyone that plays for him since he never makes issue with paying the huge salaries players make these days but only adds the caveat of "Just win a World Series". I don't think players have ever had problems with owners like that.

Then he gets ‘offered' a pay cut with strings? That sucks. Was very cool to see the mass of Yankee fans at the "keep Joe" rally though. Amazing how that loyalty card plays out in the public eye and through the media when the shoes on the other foot. Managers don't win ballgames, players do, and I think you'd be surprised to know how bad we feel when managers we care about get fired because we know, if we have one ounce of integrity, that our failures as players are, most times, what gets a manager fired.

See what I mean about rambling? Sheesh! It's like reading Faulkner while hopped up on greenies. Anyway, the rambling rant didn't stop there. Oh no! Ol' Curt moved back to our boy Tito and how things have worked out so well in Boston after he got "hacked up" in Philly. In fact, Curt doesn't just fire willy-nilly into the air with the broad, sweeping charges against the Philly hacks. Oh no, that's not his style.

Curt names names.

To wit:

Terry Francona is a genius since he arrived in Boston? Having been on his team the first day he managed in the big leagues through today I'll tell you up front that he is not much different. He does suck much more at cribbage now than he ever did and his fantasy teams continue to suck as well, but as a manager he's not really different. I think the interim jobs he had in Cleveland and Oakland showed him the inner workings of baseball front offices more and helped him in some areas but in the clubhouse, dugout, and on the field he's pretty much the same non-jersey wearing guy he was in Philly, he just has a front office comprised entirely of people that understand winning games on the field matters more than anything else. The ‘know it alls' in Philadelphia, from Conlin to Cataldi to Macnow, aren't really know it alls are they? Their people who's life it is, who's entire job description, revolves around creating news or stories where there is none, to make you think their ‘in' and you're not, and if you want to truly know or get smarter, listen to them. Pretty cool when you can be wrong pretty much 90% of the time and still be considered an expert.

Wonder how smart Tito looks to the guys that hacked him in Philly now? 3 post seasons, 2 world series appearances in 4 years here. Nice to know he gets that last laugh.

Et tu, Curt? Et tu?

Yeah, so how about that? Good to see gabby Curt is preparing himself for a smooth transition back to Philadelphia in 2008, huh?

We're so outta here

There is no such thing as the ex-Phillies curse. There might be an ex-Cubs curse and the curse of Kenny Lofton[1] appears to be alive and well, but as far as the Phillies go, there is no such jinx[2]. In fact, leaving the Philadelphia Phillies for another team is a really good career move. How good? Going back to the last time the Phillies were actually in the World Series there has been at least one former Phillie to play in the Series in every season except for 1998. If the Red Sox manage to beat the Rockies this year, it will be four straight World Series where an ex-Phillie plays an instrumental role.

Need names? OK.

Scott Rolen for the Cardinals last year; Cliff Politte for the White Sox in 2005; and of course, Curt Schilling and Terry Francona for the Red Sox in 2004.

The last two names are the most interesting. Actually, Schilling isn't so interesting because he is one of those guys who can pick and choose where he wants to play. He wanted the Phillies to trade him to the Diamondbacks and a year later he was pitching in the World Series. When the D'backs were ready for their big fire sale, Schilling was able to wrangle a deal to the Red Sox, a team that missed out on the World Series because of Aaron Boone's home run in Game 7 of the ALCS the previous year.

What Schilling wants, Schilling gets - but really, where's the fun in that? It's not exactly the noblest tact, but whatever...

But when Schilling worked the trade to Boston at Thanksgiving of 2003, one thing he wanted was Terry Francona as the manager of the Red Sox. It wasn't the most popular move to the Red Sox fans during that 2004 season, but they got over it pretty quickly. Now in his fourth season as the Red Sox skipper, Francona is heading to his second World Series after ending the franchises' 86-year "curse" in '04. Francona, it seems, is a pretty good manager after all.

Go figure.

Jim Salisbury examined the rise of Tito in the Inquirer today. In the story Francona's days as the manager of the Phillies were especially noted. Hired to manage the Phillies before the 1997 season when he was just 37, Francona's job, it seems now, was just to bide time until the Phillies could get the new stadium built and then find a better manager.

Francona, it was reasoned, had the temperament to deal with the young Phillies players as well as take the lumps in the press. And aside from giving the manager Rolen and Schilling, the team really wanted Francona to take a beating.

Francona definitely took it, the Phillies eventually built their new stadium, but did they get a better manager to replace him? Surely there will be plenty of folks to debate that one - especially in Philadelphia where there seems to be some resentment for those who find success elsewhere. The curious part about that is Francona was never expected to win in Philadelphia - what team in which four starters made more than 30 starts during the four-year run would be?

Why the resentment? Is it Francona's fault that the Red Sox cared about winning and the Phillies just wanted to get a stadium built and hired Larry Bowa?

Schilling summed it up in the Inquirer:

"Nobody that matters or knows what they're talking about sees him that way," said Curt Schilling, who has spent eight of the last 11 seasons pitching for Francona, first in Philadelphia, now in Boston.

"Unfortunately, there are some people in Philadelphia that have the ability to shape opinions. There are some people in the media there that are the most ignorant sports people I've ever met.

"Terry's really not any different than he was in Philadelphia. He just has an organization that understands winning and is committed to winning."

And like Rolen and every other former Phillie that left town for greater glory, Philadelphia is hardly even a blip in Francona's rear-view mirror:

"Regardless of what job I've had, I've never made it about myself," he said after his team won the American League pennant Sunday night. "Really, I don't care what people in Philadelphia think, especially from Woodhaven Road on down."

So can Francona and Schilling do it again?

Yeah, why not...

---

[1] Kenny Lofton has made it to the playoffs in 11 of the past 13 seasons with six different teams and has been to the World Series twice. Both times his team lost. Moreover, in 20 playoff series, Lofton's teams are 9-11. Then again, Lofton was a Cub during the infamous "Bartman" series. Does that mean Lofton himself is the jinx or the fact that he was on the Cubs make him a jinx?[2] Of course there are no such things as jinxes, curses or other otherworldly influences on sports, but for the sake of this argument we'll just pretend to be stupid(er).

Tito!

Amongst sports fans -- if I can even be considered a sports fan -- I am rare in that I feel no sympathy for the Boston Red Sox, their whiny fans and their damned curse. As far as I'm concerned, the Red Sox and their fans deserve all the agony that has been dealt their way. Want to know why? The phrase, "Get that nigger off the field," sums up my ambivilence toward the Olde Towne Team. Check out my friend Howie's book Shut Out, better yet, buy it, if you want to understand the real history of the Red Sox. Contrary to popular media mythology, the real curse has nothing to do with Babe Ruth. Instead, the fact that the Red Sox refused to integrate for more than a decade after Jackie Robinson broke the color line screams volumes.

Sometimes, I even root for the Yankees to beat the Red Sox. To me that means that everything is OK in the world. If the Red Sox were to somehow figure out how to win it all, the earth might spin off its axis and prople itself into the sun.

For good measure, screw the Chicago Cubs too. Real teams figure out how to get it done.

Anyway, the magnitude of the Red Sox's victory in the ALCS still has not sunk in. Rarely are two extremes even contained in the same variable in that the victory was both the greatest comeback and greatest collapse in baseball history. The fact that it happened with two of the most mythologized francises in the sport just makes it even more immense and legendary. However, there are a few things that a lot of people are forgetting about the two teams.

Firstly, the Red Sox were actually favored to win the series. After the Sox swept an Angels team that was much better than the Yankees, the consensus was that the Sox would win the ALCS in six games... maybe even five. But when the Sox lost the first two games and then were embarrassed 19-8 in the third game, it was the same old, same old for Red Sox Nation.

Nice try. Hurry up and lose so we can move on.

So when they came back from three games down and three outs away from a sweep against one of the best three closers in the history of the game, it was easy to see that something was up.

Interestingly, the Red Sox also overcame a seemingly insurmountable 3-1 series deficit with just one strike to go before they were eliminated the last time they went to the World Series. And we all know how that one ended.

I'm sure Fox will have a blast playing and replaying the ball that went through Bill Buckner's legs. That image still sends chills up and down my spine every time I see it even to this day. But we'll chat about that later.

Anyway, back to why I don't like the Red Sox.

Surely, I should be able to ignore the idiocy of the whiny fans, egghead literati and elbow-patch blazer wearing professors as well as the knee-jerk media that obsess over the Sox, but I can't. I'm shallow. I'm also one of those people who is too cool to be attached to common fandom because I get to go into the clubhouse. Yeah, that's right. I'm so cool.

But when I was boy and easily influenced by the media -- especially television, newspapers and those jock-sniffing tell-all books -- I loved the allure of the Red Sox. Johnny Pesky is a family friend, so how could I not root for the Sox. Since they are the lovable losers always knocking on the door but never getting an answer, how could a young kid not be influenced by that? Enticing it even more was the fact that the were always so close to it finally being the year. They always did the right thing by adding the piece that they needed, and always had a band of complex and complicated stars.

Teddy Ballgame, Yaz, Jimmy Rice, Wade Boggs, Oil Can, the Rocket, Freddie Lynn, Boomer Scott, Eck, Fisk, Remy, el Tiante, Nomah, Mo Vaughn, Dewey Evans, Zimmer, Steamer Stanley, Dave Henderson and Billy Buckner. Who couldn't like those guys?

Well, they couldn't, I would later find out. Much later, I learned that that 25 cabs for 25 guys ethos that had defined the team and was later embraced by Nomar Garciaparra doesn't work. The Golden Boy had to go if they were going to make a serious run.

Regardless, I find myself curiously interested in these Sox because of an unappreaciated element called Terry Francona. Old Tito, of course, was the first manager I ever dealt with on an everyday basis. Tito is a guy who I associate with my dream of covering a big league team. His office was the first place I went when I finally became an insider. I'm sure if it had been anyone else other than kindly and classy Francona that I would not want to have anything to do with baseball. By being a good guy -- which to me is more important than being a good player or manager -- my love of the game and desire to be near it was enhanced. So for that, I hope Francona wins the World Series every single season.

I don't even care that he manages the Red Sox.

Tidbits * One name missing from everyone's lips as the Red Sox go to the World Series is Nomar Garciaparra. Apparently, the deal to send him to the Cubs to get Orlando Cabrera from Montreal and Doug Mientkiewicz from Minnesota worked out pretty well.

* Check this out: My grandmother was born on Jan. 10, 1918. She was nearly eight months old when the Red Sox won their last World Series in Sept. 1918. My son was born April 15, 2004. If the Red Sox win the World Series this week, he'll be close to the same age as my grandmother was when the Sox won their last title. Crazy huh?

I wonder if my son will have to wait as long as my grandmother did to see another Red Sox title... yes, I just assumed the Sox will win. Now they're really jinxed.

* Lost in the shuffle of the Red Sox-Yankees series has been a marvelous NLCS. Tonight is Game 7 of that series, which has had much better ball and even closer games than the ALCS. If the Cardinals win, the World Series will be a former Phillies convention.

* Along the former Phillies line, wdid all the Philadelphia fans know that Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling and Francona would one day make it to the World Series. Now ask those same Philly fans if they are surprised that they did it with St. Louis and Boston.

* How cool would it be to see Roger Clemens pitching in the World Series against the Red Sox?