At a fever pitch

Schilling, Sox bullpen grab control of Series heading to Colorado.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 26, 2007

Curt Schilling, unsigned for 2008 so far, may have pitched his last game for Boston, allowing just one run on four hits Thursday night in Game 2.
	[Getty Images]

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] Ubaldo Jimenez held Boston hitless through his first three innings Thursday, but the Red Sox scratched out two runs on a sacrifice fly and Mike Lowell's double.

BOSTON - The Rockies were better Thursday. Improved enough to make the World Series interesting again after Wednesday's opening night blowout.

Just not enough to win.

The Red Sox hung on for a 2-1 victory, and head to cold and crazed Colorado with a two-games-to-none lead in their bid for a second title in four seasons.

"This team is always pretty confident," Kevin Youkilis said. "Winning always builds confidence."

The Sox didn't continue their recent rampage, in which they outscored the Indians and Rockies 43-6 over their last four games. Instead, they did it quietly at the plate, getting one run on a sacrifice fly by Jason Varitek and another on a Mike Lowell double, and loudly on the mound, with a solid start by Curt Schilling and stellar relief work from Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, who got the final 11 outs.

"This was the Pap/Okajima show tonight," Schilling said. "That was just phenomenal to watch. ... Those two guys, that was the story tonight. Much like all year, our bullpen has been dominating, and tonight we had to have it."

The Rockies, clearly out of synch in Wednesday's 13-1 opening loss after an eight-day layoff, played more like themselves in Game 2. They got a few key hits, including four by MVP candidate Matt Holliday. And they got some huge outs, with Matt Herges diffusing a Sox rally in the fifth and deposed closer Brian Fuentes another in the sixth.

But they still made some big mistakes, too. Their pitchers walked seven, making it 15 in the two games. And Holliday, representing the tying run, got picked off first (on a play called from the Boston bench) to end the eighth with cleanup hitter Todd Helton at the plate.

"That was just a simple pick," Papelbon said. "It will probably go down as one of the biggest outs of my career so far."

After winning 10 straight, and 21 of 22, coming into the Series, the Rockies have lost back-to-back games for the first time since Sept. 14-15. More concerning, they're two losses from elimination, which they dodged the final weeks of the season.

"We've done a lot of things that people haven't expected us to do all year," manager Clint Hurdle said. "That being said, our focus will be on winning Game 3. We've been down to one strike, going home. Game 3 is the most important game for us. All we need to do is win four out of five."

Rockies rookie starter Ubaldo Jimenez, a smoke-throwing Dominican who considers Pedro Martinez his idol, did a good job of taming the Sox by working into the fifth. But Jimenez ran into a bit of trouble in the fifth and found himself out of the game.

Shut out the first three innings, the Sox scored one in the fourth to tie the game. Jimenez had to know he was risking further trouble by walking David Ortiz with two outs in the fifth, and he did - Manny Ramirez followed with a single to left, and Lowell doubled to deep left to deliver the go-ahead run. It was the 12th of Boston's first 15 Series runs to come with two outs.

Schilling, the postseason maestro, settled into a groove after a shaky start and gave the Sox five-plus decent innings, allowing just a first-inning run on a hit batter, a fly out, an infield single, an error and a ground out.

"It's a good feeling when he pitches," Sox manager Terry Francona said.

When he walked off the mound in the sixth with two on and one out - tipping his cap to the Fenway Park crowd in his continuing pitch for fan approval and a new contract - he had allowed one run and four hits and gotten 16 outs.

Okajima, who beat teammate Daisuke Matsuzaka for the honor of being the first Japanese born pitcher to appear in a Series game, cleaned up behind him, and turned in another solid outing, retiring all seven batters he faced, four by strikeouts. Papelbon finished with a four-out save.

FAST FACTS

Running it up ...

Boston's 13 runs on Wednesday were the most of any team in a World Series opener, and the ninth time a team got into double digits:

Runs Year Team, opponent Series result

13 2007 Red Sox, vs. Rockies ?

12 1996 Braves, vs. Yankees Lost 4-2

12 1932 Yankees, vs. Cubs Won 4-0

11 2004 Red Sox, vs. Cardinals Won 4-0

11 1978 Dodgers, vs. Yankees Lost 4-2

11 1959 White Sox, vs. Dodgers Lost 4-2

10 1987 Twins, vs. Cardinals Won 4-3

10 1982 Brewers, vs. Cardinals Lost 4-3

10 1908 Cubs, vs. Tigers Won 4-1

Source: MLB

[Last modified October 26, 2007, 01:37:05]