Schilling sharp in opener

Obviously you take spring training games for what they're worth (especially the first one), but Curt Schilling looked good last night on the mound - in terms of his pitches, that is, the gut was there for all to see.
"I felt a little stronger than I thought I would, which was nice," said Schilling. "But this was not even close to stretching it out. I would have liked to have kept going, but we have a lot of guys here who need innings."
Schill threw 19 pitches, 18 of them fastballs, and 15 for strikes. Nice to see the control that has made him what he is already there in game 1.
He even did a nice job covering first on a grounder by Joe Mauer.
While it was only the first game, who doubts that the media would be all over his weight issues if the outing had gone poorly?
On another pitching note, Manager Terry Francona said that he does not expect to leave spring training with a long relief pitcher and that he plans to take the best 11 or 12 pitchers with the team, regardless of their ability to go multiple innings on short notice.
“The one thing I’m not looking for out of the bullpen is the so-called ‘long guy,’ that when a guy gets knocked out, he can eat up innings,” Francona said. “That happens every couple of weeks. I’d rather have a bullpen that can try to get outs, and if we run into that disaster, we’ll piece it together, and, if we have to call somebody up, we will.
Should make it difficult for the Kyle Snyder's of the world to make the club.