Schilling Expects Cardinals to Bunt

Curt Schilling, once almost certain to be done for the postseason and headed for surgery because of his ailing right ankle, pitches again tonight for the Boston Red Sox, five days after shutting down the New York Yankees in Game 6 of the American League championship series.

Although the Christian in Schilling might call it a miracle, the pitcher in him calls it a stay, the creative work of Dr. Bill Morgan again drawing relief and mobility from an otherwise unreliable hinge.

Between Game 6 of the ALCS and Game 2 of the World Series, Morgan removed the sutures that allowed Schilling’s tendon to slide more comfortably, and on Saturday he inserted them again.

Asked whether Saturday’s procedure was dissimilar to the one Morgan performed last week, Schilling grinned and said, “Other than thinking it [was awful]?”

“We did ... something a little different just to try and make some things not happen that happened the other day,” he said. “But I wouldn’t be able to explain it in-depth to you. So, no, it was pretty much the same thing.”

Whether out of pride or stubbornness, the Yankees did not test Schilling’s mobility, refusing to bunt on the wet grass at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox assume the National League Cardinals will make Schilling field his position, hoping to strain or weaken his ankle.

“Oh, they will,” Schilling said. “Absolutely, I expect them to bunt. I expect them to try to get me to move off the mound, which we’ve gotten ready for.

“I certainly expect them to try to push the envelope that way and run and make things happen, like [Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa] has always done in the past.”

For now, though, they’d play it off.

“If Larry Walker, [Albert] Pujols, [Scott] Rolen, [Jim] Edmonds want to bunt, please go over and tell them I said, ‘Go ahead,’ ” Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said.

More likely, Tony Womack, So Taguchi, Roger Cedeno and Edgar Renteria would test Schilling.

“We’ll pitch to them,” Francona said. “And Schill is actually very good at that stuff. It might hurt a little bit, but I don’t think they’re going to get by doing things they normally would not do.”

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Womack, the Cardinals’ second baseman who left the game in the seventh inning after being struck in the left collarbone with a batted ball, said he intended to play tonight after X-rays did not reveal a break.

“Hey, I’ve played in pain before,” said Womack, who suffered from back spasms during the NLCS. “I’ll be ready [Sunday].”

Womack was injured while moving to his left to field a sharp grounder hit by David Ortiz. The ball appeared to hit near the lip of the infield, and it bounded upward, striking Womack. He was replaced by Marlon Anderson.

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Boston General Manager Theo Epstein was a 12-year-old middle school student in Brookline, Mass., when the Red Sox, one strike away from winning the 1986 World Series, suffered one of their most horrific losses, Mookie Wilson’s 10th-inning grounder going through first baseman Bill Buckner’s legs, Boston dropping Game 6 to the New York Mets and then losing Game 7.

Epstein, who attended Game 3 of that series in Fenway Park, a 7-1 Met victory, recalled the experience of seeing his beloved Red Sox lose to the Mets “pretty devastating.” So was the harsh realization that his favorite team seemed destined to lose, no matter how close it came to a championship.

“The next day, after Game 6, I went to school and was saying, ‘It’s OK, we’ll win tomorrow,’ ” Epstein said on the Red Sox bench before Game 1 on Saturday. “I remember my math teacher saying, ‘You fool. You don’t get it. They don’t have a chance.’ ”

Times staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.