Schilling Was Feeling Ill Before Making Toronto Sick

Late Wednesday night, after the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 15-14, they were faced with another dilemma. For much of the game, Curt Schilling was lying on the trainer’s table, stricken with stomach cramps.

His pain was so severe that a team doctor told Manager Jim Fregosi his pitcher might have appendicitis.

“I said, ‘That’s all we need,’ ” Fregosi said.

Trailing three games to one, the Phillies were in a must-win situation for Game 5, and Schilling’s condition was questionable.

“I don’t know if I should say this, but Schilling had an upset stomach and we weren’t sure if he would be able to go,” said Terry Mulholland, who will start tonight’s Game 6. “(Pitching coach) Johnny Podres said that I may have to fill in for Curt. When I found out that he was OK, I knew that my job would be in the bullpen if needed.”

Schilling said that a doctor gave him pain medication. But he didn’t start to feel better until he warmed up in the bullpen before Game 5.

“I wasn’t sick enough that I couldn’t pitch,” Schilling said. “I didn’t feel well and I guess it was something that I ate. It wasn’t until I was getting loose in the bullpen that I started to feel better. I had (awakened) early and got up and around and got the blood going. But the adrenaline took over in the bullpen, and that helped.”

Schilling, who threw 148 pitches in the complete-game, 2-0 victory Thursday, said he felt fine Friday, except for stiffness.

“I know I can pitch out of the bullpen in Game 7, and I may be able to pitch one or two innings (tonight)--I’ll let you know when I wake up,” Schilling said.

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Recently, Buzzie Bavasi, former Dodger general manager, sent Fregosi a letter saying he was glad that Podres, his favorite player, is getting some attention. Schilling dedicated Game 5 to Podres.

“We’ve had some great pitchers, Don Newcombe, Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax,” Bavasi wrote. “But when the chips were down, Walt Alston always called on Podres. I’d be sitting there, nervous, and he’d walk by, and he’d say, ‘Don’t worry Buzzie, I’ll shut the (team) out.’

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Joe Carter wasn’t happy about an item that appeared in a local Philadelphia tabloid that said he, Paul Molitor and Pat Borders had visited a well-known Philadelphia strip club on Monday night. Carter challenged the columnist to meet him face to face.

He said he was at the team hotel dining with his wife, mother, father and other family members that night. “It’s very upsetting to be presented in this light,” Carter said.

Meanwhile, Molitor and his mother went to see the movie “The Beverly Hillbillies” that night. Borders wasn’t very happy about it, either.

But Fregosi seemed to get a kick out of the rumor.

“By the way, who’s the guy who wrote about the guys being at Delila’s Den?” Fregosi asked reporters. “I might have been there, but not them.”

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After Game 5, Mitch Williams exclaimed in the clubhouse that he had discovered the secret to his team winning:

“Keeping me out of the game.”

Williams did not attend the Phillies’ workout Friday at SkyDome because he did not get much sleep, according to Fregosi. But most of the players at the workout said they hadn’t slept much, either. “I didn’t get any except for the hour that I passed out,” John Kruk said.

There was talk some of the players were going to mimic Schilling Thursday night by putting towels over their heads, the way Schilling does when Williams pitches. “Someone mentioned to me that maybe I shouldn’t be doing that, maybe it’s irking Mitch,” Schilling said.

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Carter, when asked if Toronto Manager Cito Gaston is really as quiet as he appears: “When he calls a team meeting, we all sit real close together because he speaks so softly, and he only says four or five words. He’s mild mannered and it takes a lot to get him mad. The one thing that gets him mad, is if you see him go out to talk to the pitcher in the first or second inning. It’s because he feels the player isn’t mentally prepared to pitch. He’s not out there for a conference call to see how you’re doing. . . . That’s the only time I have seen him mad.”

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Gaston said that on the way to SkyDome on Friday, his wife was listening to a radio sports show. There was a debate on whether Willie Canate should have tried to score in the crucial eighth inning on Rickey Henderson’s grounder to Schilling in Game 5.

“Schilling’s not going to turn a double play on that ball, and when it was hit to Schilling and bounced up, Canate probably hesitated,” Gaston said. “Rob Butler went into second base anticipating the double play and trying to take out the shortstop, so he couldn’t get to third.”

Schilling said he didn’t know he had dropped the ball at first. “I thought I fielded it clean, but I don’t think I would have tried for two,” Schilling.