Boston’s last-stitch effort?

BOSTON — Ol’ blood and guts did it again for the Boston Red Sox.

Curt Schilling walked to the mound Sunday night with an ailing ankle on his right leg and the hopes of eight decades of Red Sox fans on his back.

Standing on the right side of the pitching rubber, trying to throw as normally as he could, he shook off the pain and stomped all over the Cardinals, pitching the Red Sox to a 6-2 victory that sent them to St. Louis with a 2-0 World Series lead.

“I just wish everybody on this planet could experience the day I just experienced,” Schilling said.

Where would the Red Sox be if Schilling’s damaged ankle tendon hadn’t been stitched down by team physician Dr. Bill Morgan? Probably where they usually are this time of year — watching the New York Yankees on television.

Instead, the Red Sox are two wins from their first Series title since 1918.

But Schilling might not be able to make a second start in the World Series because the unprecedented surgical procedure to stitch together his injured right ankle might be too damaging to keep repeating.

Team physician Bill Morgan told the Associated Press the team might have to pull the plug on the experiment after Schilling experienced significant discomfort before his start in Game 2 of the World Series against St. Louis.

“Hopefully, I won’t have to pitch again,” Schilling said.

When the Red Sox lost the first three games of the A.L. Championship Series to the Yankees, and Schilling was knocked out of the opener after three innings, his season seemed to be over.

Then the Red Sox medical staff came up with the procedure that gave him another chance.

“We were out of options,” Schilling said Saturday. “When they signed off on it, we really had no other choice.”

Still, when he woke up at 7 a.m. Sunday, he panicked and didn’t think he’d be able to pitch.

“I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t move,” he said. “I don’t know what had happened, but I knew when I woke up, there was a problem.”

He had taken an extra stitch this time to help keep his ankle together, and it had hit a nerve. Once the suture was removed, however, he was back in business.

“You could see he was battling with his ankle,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “We all know what the circumstances are. He was very, very good.”

The ankle isn’t his only problem. Schilling said he “tweaked” a hip flexor in the third inning, and he put a hot water bottle on it when he wasn’t on the mound.

“I thought early on, the first two or three innings, he wasn’t quite as sharp,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “After that, whenever we got a smell, he made quality pitches.”

Schilling is two Boston victories from the largest bonus windfall in baseball history: If the Red Sox win the World Series, his 2005 salary increases from $12.5 million to $14.5 million, and a $13 million club option in 2007 becomes guaranteed.

Schilling improved his World Series record to 3-1 and his postseason mark to 8-2.

But before the World Series began, he admitted that some of what he shows is false bravado.

“Don’t kid yourself, I’m terrified,” he said. “That’s part of the motivation, the fear of failure. I always felt good players use the fear of failure in a positive way.”