He can be a blow-hard sometimes but Curt Schilling wrote something today on his blog that I thought was especially interesting in light of this World Series. Few people can adequately talk about what it is like pitching on short rest in the postseason but Curt is one of them. This is a man who lost an entire year (at least) due to his putting it all on the line for the 2004 postseason, something I don’t think he’s ever regretted.
It’s October baseball (November, actually). The rules go out the window, right? The season is 27 outs from being over … literally, every game.
That’s the mindset I always felt worked for me in October. You do whatever you have to, whenever you have to, to have one more run than the other team.
From a starting pitcher’s standpoint, three days’ rest in October was never an issue, because from the time you’re 5 years old, doing that “World Series” replay in your back yard, it’s the game, the innings, the at-bats you’ve always dreamed about having the ball in your hand for.
[snip]
I guess for me it comes back to the player. I always felt the need to make sure the manager KNEW I wanted to do it, and ya, I’d put up a fight to get the shot to be able to do it. If as a player you don’t assert this, you leave the manager sitting there in a no-win, really. If he does it, and you don’t do well, it’s his fault for pushing you. If he doesn’t do it, and you lose, it’s not your fault because he didn’t ask. That’s the easy way, I think, and I’ve watched guys take it more than once. Being the “quiet type,” I never could. You may never be there again, and the belief that in October I could not be outpitched, regardless of whether it was true or not, made me push to get the ball in my hands if at all possible.
I mean, it’s the World Series, there are no more games after this, right? Nine innings in October can change the lives of every person in the organization. How cool is it to know that power rests in the ball being in your hands? Scary? Hell, yes. But that’s why it’s so damn fun. On the biggest stage, with the most on the line, let the rest of the world shrink back or cower — me? I’m good with letting it all hang out, and letting the chips fall. I’ve done my work, in the weight room and the video room, now it comes down to execution.
Read the full post because Schilling writes rather eloquently about the subject and about his thoughts before warming up for game 7 of the 2001 World Series. While the New York media is howling about Girardi’s choice to go with a 3-man rotation for the entire postseason, what did they want, Chad Gaudin in the World Series? Joba back in the rotation? There aren’t any better options for this team right now, with their offense and their stadium all they need is for Pettite to keep them close and they’ll always be in it. After all, there’s always Mariano in the ‘pen.
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