CURT SCHILLING

THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
Schilling sunk in Canada

May 13, 2004 ... Even their most effective starter to date, Curt Schilling, was unable to spare the pitching-rich Red Sox the ignominy last night of allowing an opponent to score in the first inning for the ninth time in their last 11 games. Nor could Schilling avenge his worst defeat in a Sox uniform, a 7-3 loss to the Blue Jays April 22nd. as he lasted only five innings in his shortest start of the season.

Defense? It was glaringly subpar as the Sox committed two more costly errors, their 32d and 33d of the season, to enable a crippling five-run Toronto rally in the sixth inning. Notable among their other gaffes, they also misplayed a potential inning-ending foul pop in the seventh to clear the way for two more runs. Only the Tigers (35) entered the night with more errors than the Sox, who lagged far behind the league-leading Mariners (13) and even the Devil Rays (15).

The Sox struck for four runs in the seventh inning trying to make up for the defensive miscues and erase an 8-2 deficit. They banged out 13 hits, the eighth time in their last 10 games they have collected at least 10 hits.

But the outcome? An ugly 12-6 loss before 20,876 at SkyDome that dropped the Sox out of first place in the American League East for the first time in 20 days, yielding to the Yankees. Just when it seemed Francona's crew had recovered from its 0-5 start in May, the Sox sagged to 5-9 in the month.

Schilling, who surrendered three runs on eight hits and a pair of walks, fell to 4-3 with a 3.04 ERA partly because the Sox' defense faltered after he departed. Lenny DiNardo, the first Sox reliever, started the rash of misplays with a throwing error in the sixth before Johnny Damon contributed to the calamity by letting a potential inning-ending line drive by Josh Phelps clang off his glove for the final two runs of the five-run eyesore.

For his part, Schilling was mostly burned at himself, even though he found ways to extricate himself from perilous jams while surrendering only single runs in the first, third, and fifth innings. He indicated his right ankle has been bothering him but has not affected his pitching. He seemed most perturbed about the way he pitched Orlando Hudson, who paced the Jays by going 4 for 4 with a walk and scoring five runs, which matched a franchise record. Catalanotto also had four hits.

The Sox were led at the plate by David Ortiz, who homered and singled to knock in two runs. Damon drove in two runs with a pair of singles, and Bellhorn and Manny Ramirez each singled home a run. But they were unable to compensate for the team's shortcomings on the mound and in the field.

When Curt Schilling issued consecutive walks to Vernon Wells and Carlos Delgado in the first inning last night, it marked the first time in more than a year he had walked two straight batters. The last time was May 3, 2003, when he walked Atlanta's Chipper Jones and Marcus Giles.

First base coach Lynn Jones, fighting to save the vision in his right eye, is expected to be sidelined for much of the season, if not all of it.