Curt Schilling
Curt Schilling
Curtis Montague Schillingis an American former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher, former video game developer, and former baseball color analyst. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series in 1993, and won championships in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 and 2007 with the Boston Red Sox. Schilling retired with a career postseason record of 11–2, and his .846 postseason winning percentage is a major-league record among pitchers with at least ten decisions. He is a...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth14 November 1966
CountryUnited States of America
At no point last year was I confident and comfortable in putting guys away because, physically, I didn't feel like I had the ability to do it.
I think I can be better than I was in 2004 simply because I have 2004 to use as an experience. I'm a year smarter on the hitters in this league. I don't go into any season looking to duplicate something I've already done. I'm trying to do something I've never done before.
Getting kicked around as much as I did, you get tired of it. I'm not trying to hit people. But at the same time, hitters were very comfortable facing me last year, much more so last year than any year in the past, obviously. But there's something you can do about that as a pitcher, and you've got to be proactive in doing it. I feel like my command is good enough that I can throw the ball in off the plate and get people off the plate without hurting people.
You guys saw Pedro do it here year after year. There were games where he didn't throw at anybody and guys still had trouble getting to the outside corner because of that inherent concern. And that's not something anybody has had to worry about facing me.
I've been playing games for 30 years, and I've been a hard-core gamer.
I did all the stupid things you'd expect from a 21-year-old kid with money.
Short of baseball and my family, it was gaming. And gaming is a $20-million to $200-million multi-year effort. It's an insane, stupid and utterly irresponsible act. But I did it.
Last year had something to do with it, getting kicked around as much as I did. You get tired of it.
Last year had something to do with it.
I'll tell you this, ... If I go out every time from here on out and feel like I did last night, I'll win more than I lose. And when we get to October, I'll be the pitcher I was last year and the year before.
I'm not trying to hit people, but at the same time hitters were very comfortable facing me last year, much more so last year than any year in the past. But there's something you can do about that as a pitcher and you've got to be proactive and do it.
If I thought about how I felt last year in my best start and ranked it, today was in a different stratosphere from a physical standpoint.
I know there are a lot of people that don't want to hear it, but when I look back on it, stuff-wise, that's every bit as good as I threw the ball last year from a pure physical standpoint, ... Every time I needed to reach back, I felt like I did and had something extra on the ball. I had all four of my pitches. I just didn't pitch well. I'm not used to that. I'm not used to feeling that good and not pitching well. That was kind of odd for me.
This is a good win, this was a great win for us. I'd be real curious to see how many games we won last year scoring two runs.