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PREGAME: It's no surprise that Schilling's ready to go

BY JOE McDONALD
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON --- It's no secret Curt Schilling thrives on the big stage, especially in October.

And there'll be no bigger stage in baseball than the one Schilling will be on Saturday night, when -- six days after he dispatched the Angels in the third and deciding game of the ALDS -- he takes on the Indians in Game Two of the ALCS.

Schilling, a veteran of three World Series, has had ample time to prepare for Saturday's game. It will only be the second time he's worked Sept. 25.

"Having faced them once this year helps," he said. "Our advance scouts put together another tremendous set of reports, so I'm confident that I know what we need to do. I have to go out and execute."

While the Red Sox were preparing for Game Three of the ALDS last Saturday in Anaheim, Schilling spoke at length about how he loves to pitch at this time of the year. He spoke about having the ability to silence a stadium filled with 50,000 fans with a solid performance.

When he was asked Friday afternoon about what makes him so good in October, Schilling pooh-poohed the notion.

"I can't indentify anything other than I think we execute well," he said. "You have to execute almost perfectly in October to be consistently successful, and I think we've done that."

Schilling was once a power pitcher and now he's more of a finesse guy. Instead of relying on a 95 MPH fastball most of the time, he uses all of his pitches with pinpoint consistency now.

"Everything has changed stuff-wise," he said. "We just have taken a much different approach to starting a game, tempo-wise. I'm not as adamant about establishing my fastball as I am about establishing the change of speeds."

Schilling enters Saturday's game with a 9-2 lifetime record in the postseason in 16 starts. He also boasts a 1.93 ERA in the postseason, which is the third best in history. In LCS play, he's 2-1 with a 2.83 ERA in five starts.

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 4:17 PM | Permalink