NEW: Follow us on Twitter!
Curt Schilling Successful in Opening Day 2006
by Andy Liakos
2006-04-04
Big Papi goes yard, and Schilling gets the win. What a day for Boston, as the
Red Sox put on a tremendous performance on Opening Day 2006, in Texas versus the
Rangers. A 7-3 Victory puts the Red Sox off to a good start, but even more
promising was seeing both the veterans and the new comers step up in big ways.
On the mound, Schilling pitched a great game. He went seven innings throwing
79 strikes out of 117 pitches, and retiring five batters. On his performance,
Schilling said, "It's Huge. I spent all spring trying to figure it out and not
really knowing until we got here how it was going to go. ... The first couple of
innings, I didn't feel like I was throwing exceptionally hard. I felt very
normal and the ball was coming out of my hand good. It was very encouraging."
Curt did acknowledge that he wasn't throwing a good splitter today, but felt
extremely comfortable with his newly added changeup, and managed to use it for
an early out.
Pitching wins games, but a productive offense and good
run-support doesn't hurt. David Ortiz had three hits, three RBI's, and a
two-shot homerun. Vartiek had two hits and two RBI's, Gonzalez also connected
twice, and Mike Lowell knocked a solo homerun to help Schilling clinch his
Opening Day "W".
Coco Crisp was equally impressive on the field today with a
leaping catch to keep the strangle hold on the Rangers. With only one out, and
two men in scoring position, Crisp made a fantastic leaping catch, keeping the
inning from getting out of control, and robbing Laynce Nix of at least two more
RBI's. When asked to comment on his tremendous catch, Crisp said, "I basically
just ran back and closed my eyes and hoped to catch it. Luckily, it went in my
glove. I got a good jump on it." Yes you did Coco, yes you did. Optimism should
be running high today, and the sentiment around Boston seems to be the promising
of much more to come.
