Schilling puts Game 6 in its simplest terms

BOSTON -- Meanwhile, back at the American League Championship Series . . .

With baseball’s axis tilted heavily toward Rye Brook, N.Y., where former Yankees manager Joe Torre gave his side of the story Friday, a handful of Red Sox and Indians gathered on a gloomy, rainy afternoon in Fenway Park to make final preparations and fulfill media obligations before tonight’s Game 6.

Boston veteran Curt Schilling, who will oppose 23-year-old right-hander Fausto Carmona, was effusive as always, waxing on a number of topics ranging from watching Game 5 on television -- he flew home from Cleveland on Thursday night -- to his transition from power to finesse pitcher, to the importance of home-field advantage and the dominance of teammate Josh Beckett.

But while Schilling enjoys talking about himself as much as any modern-day professional athlete and tends to ramble at times -- hey, you know how those 40-year-olds can be -- his somewhat self-centered, the world-revolves-around-Curt view may actually be warranted tonight.

“It’s very simple now -- I go out and do my job and we win, or I don’t, and we lose,” Schilling said. “I don’t think that’s too much pressure or too little. It’s just reality. . . . We’ve got a guy going against us who I don’t envision will back up that last start with another bad one, so it’s all about me being able to answer the bell.”

Schilling, 9-2 with a 2.23 earned-run average in 17 career postseason starts, gave up five runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings of Game 2, a 13-6, 11-inning loss to the Indians.

Carmona had control problems, giving up four runs and four hits and walking five in four innings that night, but the sinkerball specialist, who went 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA this season, has the ability to dominate, while Schilling, whose 97-mph heaters of yesteryear now top out at about 89 mph, must be near-perfect with his execution.

If he isn’t, the Red Sox, who trail the best-of-seven series, 3-2, will be eliminated, and the Indians will advance to their first World Series since 1997.

Sound familiar? Schilling was in the exact same spot in 2004, taking less-than-his-best stuff into Game 6 of the ALCS and the Red Sox facing elimination.

Schilling, who had a minor surgical procedure performed on his right ankle before that game, gave up one run and four hits in seven innings of a 4-2 win that pushed the Red Sox toward their unprecedented comeback from a 3-0 series deficit against the Yankees and will forever be known as “the bloody sock game.”

From that, he will draw inspiration tonight.

“Listen, I went out against a Yankees lineup in 2004 that was as good an offense as any I’ve ever faced, I was basically pitching on a broken foot with a lot less stuff than I have now, and I gave up one run in seven innings,” Schilling said. “There’s no excuse for me not to be able to go out [tonight] with what I have now, and if I can execute perfectly, I can pitch as good, if not better.”

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The Indians’ chances would improve if No. 3 batter Travis Hafner breaks out of his slump. The slugger is hitless in 11 at-bats, with seven strikeouts, over the last three games. . . . Boston center fielder Coco Crisp is hitless in his last 12 at-bats and is batting .143 (three for 21) in the series and .161 (five for 31) in the postseason, but Manager Terry Francona seems hesitant to replace him with rookie Jacoby Ellsbury tonight.

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