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Dice-K solid in pitching battle »
July 24, 2007
*Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling (shoulder tendinitis) is on the road with team, but will travel to Toledo, which is a little more than an hour from Cleveland, to make his second rehab start for the PawSox on Thursday.
The veteran right-hander is scheduled to throw 65 pitches, and if everything goes as well as his first outing last Saturday in Pawtucket (three scoreless innings, 40 pitches, six strikeouts), it’s possible he could return sooner rather than later. Right now he’s slated to return to the rotation on Aug. 6 at Anaheim.
Because it’s such a short trip to Toledo, Francona said he didn’t know if Schilling would fly or drive.
“I really don’t care,” said the manager. “As long as he pitches I don’t care how he gets there.”
*With Ortiz out of the lineup again tonight, Francona is going with a little bit different lineup because the Sox are facing the Indians' C.C. Sabathia (13-4, 3.81 ERA). The manager said he's just trying to get through some bumps and bruises and not have it affect the outcome of the game in a bad way.
For example, Coco Crisp is hitting fifth as he continues to get bounced around the order.
“Coco hits where ever you ask him to hit,” said Francona. “I’m not sure it matters with the way he’s swing the bat he can hit 1 through 9, it doesn’t matter.”
Crisp posted a 4-for-5 night on Monday against the Indians and is 10-for-13 in the last three games to raise his average to a season-high .284.
Francona said Crisp’s turnaround began when he started getting around on the fastball, now he’s hitting the ball to all fields with “authority” according to the manager.
“When he first got hot you would throw him a fastball and he would whack it,” said Francona. “Now, if you throw him a slider he’ll hit it the other way. He’s using the whole field and taking aggressive swings without having to swing hard. That’s a good feeling for a hitter.”
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 5:50 PM | Permalink
