SEATTLE - Curt Schilling had dreamed of starting the All-Star Game against one-time mentor Roger Clemens, but late Monday night Schilling decided he had to be realistic.
Schilling had thrown 105 pitches Sunday and is scheduled to start again for the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, so he made the painful decision to withdraw from the starting All-Star assignment and turn it over to teammate Randy Johnson.
"Going against Roger would have been a dream come true," said Schilling, a former Oriole. "It would have meant a lot to me. I could have muscled it up for an inning, but I wouldn't have been as effective as Randy Johnson. I didn't know what the repercussions would be for the rest of the season."
It was a surprising revelation, considering the heartfelt comments Schilling made Monday. He recounted how Clemens had taken him aside 10 years ago to deliver a lecture/pep talk that helped him refocus on his pitching career. He marveled at how "incredibly ironic" it was to be facing Clemens in baseball's midseason showcase.
Now, that may never happen. Schilling told National League manager Bobby Valentine on Sunday that he would be able to pitch, only to face nagging doubts about the effect the extra work might have on his performance in the second half of the regular season.
"I talked to my wife last night and told her I was going to see how I felt today," Schilling said yesterday. "She said, `If you wait until tomorrow, you'll pitch.' This was not a decision I needed to sleep on. This was a decision I had to make before I went to sleep.
"I thought about it and realized what was at stake for the club. I couldn't see it [pitching] being the right decision. I really wrestled with it. I don't think I could have pitched Friday if I had pitched tonight."
By all accounts, Schilling is the first starting pitcher to be scratched from a starting assignment since the Detroit Tigers' Denny McLain pulled out of the rain-delayed 1969 game in Washington to keep a dental appointment.
Piazza-Clemens uneventful
No hit, no blowup, no drama.
When Roger Clemens finally pitched to Mike Piazza again, nothing much happened.
In their first meeting since the New York Yankees' Clemens tossed a broken bat in Piazza's direction during the World Series, the New York Mets catcher saw seven pitches from the Rocket in the second inning last night.
