urt Schilling admits he had pregame jitters to begin with.
Pedro Martinez certainly didn't help calm his nerves.
The Red Sox ace opened last night's All-Star Game at Fenway Park by fanning, in order, Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, and Sammy Sosa. Then he turned the mound over to Schilling.
Martinez proved too tough an act to follow.
Schilling was touched for three singles by Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome, and Cal Ripken, and those, sandwiched around a walk to Manny Ramirez, put him in a 2-0 hole after an inning. He settled down in the second to retire the side in order.
''Once I started to breath, after about the third or fourth hitter, it was tough,'' said Schilling, the Phillies' righthander who was 13-4 with a 3.14 ERA in the first half.
''I mean, how do you follow what he [Martinez] did. In his hometown, having arguably one of the best first halves in the history of the game and he goes out and strikes out three above- average hitters. I said `that's nice, I have to follow that in the first.'''
He followed, but not with the same success as Martinez.
Lofton beat out an infield grounder to first baseman Mark McGwire, outracing Schilling to the bag. After Nomar Garciaparra lined deep to right and Lofton stole second, Schilling struck out Ken Griffey looking for the second out. But he walked Ramirez, setting the stage for RBI singles by Thome and Ripken.
Asked if he knew some of the AL batters he faced, Schilling said, ''Yeah, they're usually in the top 10 in every category, so you see their names in the paper every day. I gave myself a chance to go over the lineup last night and had an idea how I wanted to pitch them. That went out the window when I got the ball and got on the mound.''
After his two innings of work, Schilling had thrown 28 pitches, 19 for strikes, and struck out three. The effort left him satisfied.
''I'm happy,'' he said. ''I certainly wish I would have thrown two scoreless innings. I'm happy I got the start and I wouldn't trade it for anything. The important thing for me was representing the Phillies and the city of Philadelphia.
''I gave up three hits to a pretty decent lineup. I would have liked to have shut them down, but I enjoyed every second of it.''
Schilling said he, not McGwire, was responsible for Lofton reaching base in the first.
''It was totally my fault,'' he said. ''I saw Mark catch the ball and I stutter-stepped, thinking he was going to take it. You never stop going to first until the first baseman waves you off.
''Once I stopped, I was in a footrace with [Lofton] and he's going to beat me by a step or two. Unfortunately, I thought Mike [Piazza] threw him out at second. He made a good throw, but fundamentals can hurt you any time and that's certainly what happened in the first.''
Fundamentals, and a pitcher named Martinez.
