Curt Schilling

On Sunday evening, Curt Schilling, with sutures holding together a dislocated tendon in his right ankle, pitched six strong innings to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Red Sox now lead the 2004 World Series, 2-0.

Tonight, Schilling became the first man to win starts for three different teams in the World Series (Phillies, Diamondbacks, Red Sox).

But it almost didn't happen.

When Schilling woke up this morning he said, "I couldn't walk. I couldn't move. I don't know what had happened, but I knew there was a problem. I called Chris [Green] and talked to Jimmy [Rowe]. I left for the park and I told [my wife] that it wasn't going to happen, that I couldn't go out to the mound the way that I felt [this morning]."

Schilling went on to say:

That's when everything just started.

I left my house. I'm driving to the park.

Anyone here who knows where Medfield is, it's a pretty long haul [30 miles].

There were signs ... every mile from my house to this ballpark.

At fire stations, on telephone poles -- wishing me luck.

I can't explain it. I got here.

I got into the trainer's room. Doc was here. I don't know the medical science behind it but, somehow, we had put an extra stitch in this time because there were some issues we wanted to try to avoid from last time.

We had caught a nerve in the leg.

We took that stitch out and everything started to change from that point.

I honest to God didn't think that I would take the ball today.

I didn't think that I could.

Then everything starts happening.

You start looking around at your teammates and understand what you've been through the last eight months. What it means to me and to them.

And then I did what I did last time: I went to the Lord for help.

Again, I wasn't going to be able to do this myself.

Thank God for Dr. Morgan and Chris Green and Jimmy Rowe and [Dr. George] Theodore [of Massachusetts General]. They made it work.

I went out there and it happened.

"This is the best day of my life," Schilling said after the game. "I care more about these twenty-four guys than anyone I've ever played with. I'd do anything for these guys. I feel the same about them when it comes to me."

Jason Varitek is one of those guys. Varitek tripled in the first inning, driving in the first two runs for the Red Sox.

Of Varitek, Schilling said, "He's been every bit the leader he's been all season. Jason is a guy that I feed off of when I'm out there. He's putting down the fingers that he's believes in. I know he's got an idea every time, every pitch, every at bat. He's so in tune with what I want to do from the pre-game meeting to the game plan session that we put together, to the last pitch. He's absolutely a part of of anything I've done all season as anybody on this team."

Congratulations Schilling, Varitek, BoSox, Boston, Massachusetts...

And thank you once again FOX.

Speaking of FOX, their telecast on Saturday night beat the combined average rating of other three networks combined. Last night's slugfest at Fenway was the most watched World Series Game 1 since 1996.

The Series now moves to St. Louis, where the Cardinals are undefeated in the post-season.

Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday at 8:10 p.m. Eastern.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful and "gutting it out" living!

~Jennifer Carolyn King & Timothy Charles Fredel