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Schilling takes the mound in a clean pair of socks

May 1, 2007 - 3:00 PM Oakland (12-13) at Boston (16-8) 7:05 pm EDT

BOSTON (Ticker) - Curt Schilling spent most of last week putting out a fire started by a Baltimore Orioles broadcaster. On Tuesday, he will take the mound as the Boston Red Sox host the Oakland Athletics.

The ace righthander blasted the media on his personal web site Friday, offering a $1 million wager to anyone who could prove his famous sock from the 2004 postseason was not dotted by blood.

Speculation regarding the nature of the substance on the sock arose Wednesday when Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne claimed that Schilling had red paint - not blood - on his sock during Game Six of the 2004 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.

Schilling (3-1, 3.27 ERA) made his first public response to Thorne's on-air comments in a written message entitled, "Ignorance has its Privileges" on his web site, 38pitches.com.

"My only real problem is not that Gary Thorne said something stupid and ignorant - which he did - but that without a word being uttered by anyone in our clubhouse this somehow became a major news story," Schilling said. "If you haven't figured it out by now, working in the media is a pretty nice gig. Barring outright plagiarism or committing a crime, you don't have to be accountable if you don't want to. You can say what you want when you want, and you don't really have to answer to anyone."

Schilling capped the 1,500-word tirade with a pricey challenge.

"I'll wager $1 million to the charity of anyone's choice, versus the same amount to ALS (Schilling's charity for ALS research)," he said. "If the blood on the sock is fake, I'll donate a million dollars to that person's charity. ... Any takers?"

Thorne, who does play-by-play for Orioles' games on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, brought up the saga of Schilling's bloody sock in the fifth inning of Wednesday's game against the Red Sox, claiming Boston catcher Doug Mirabelli said that Schilling had paint on the sock in a publicity stunt.

Schilling, oblivious to Thorne's comments in the broadcast booth, was taking apart the Orioles last Wednesday, picking up a win with seven strong innings.

The A's will counter with Joe Blanton (2-1, 3.55). The burly righthander has been solid this season, striking out 27 and walking only eight in 33 innings.

Oakland's starters had their streak of 24 games to start the season allowing four earned runs or less end Sunday, when rookie Dallas Braden surrendered five runs in a loss to the Devil Rays.

The Reds Sox took two of three from the Yankees over the weekend to push their record to an American League-best 16-8.