Schilling's goal - Knot series with Cardinals

PHOENIX -- Curt Schilling covets his reputation as a big-game pitcher, and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in dire need of a big game.

The powerhouse bats of the Cardinals took care of Randy Johnson with stunning ease in a 12-2 rout of the World Series champions in Game 1 of NL division series. If they can beat Schilling in Game 2 today, the Cardinals will go home up 2-0 in the best-of-5 series.

"For me, the bar is set by how you do in games that truly matter," Schilling said on Wednesday. "I mean, they all matter. But at this point of the year, they matter times 10."

Schilling (23-7) struggled down the stretch, allowing 17 earned runs in his last 16 2/3 innings and going 2/3 in his last seven starts.

"Everybody was ready to make excuses for me in September," Schilling said. "My elbow was bothering me, I was not feeling well, I was tired. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I feel great physically. Mentally, yeah, I'm a little bruised. I stunk it up the last five or six starts. No one wants to have their psyche beat like that."

Schilling has a 5-1 postseason record, including 4-0 last year, when he beat the Cardinals by 1-0 and 2-1, both complete games.

"He's as dependable and consistent as any pitcher in the game throughout the regular season," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said. "But when the lights are the brightest, he seems to bring his best."

Schilling blames his recent problems on the "execution," a term that is tough to define.

"You know, command-wise, I feel I haven't lost anything," he said. "The best plan in the world can't survive poor execution. That's pretty much how I would sum up my execution."

Catcher Damian Miller said there has been nothing wrong with the quality of Schilling's pitches.

"His stuff is exactly the same as it was all year," Miller said. "His velocity was fine. Maybe he was a little more inconsistent with his location. But other than that, his splitter was good, his curve ball is good. Everything is as fine as it was in May."

Schilling downplayed suggestions that he is tipping off his pitches.

"I don't think that's why I've been getting hit," he said. "I've been getting hit because I haven't executed. I haven't made good pitches. Certainly if that's something I feel needs to be addressed, I'll address it."

The Cardinals pounded Johnson for 10 hits, the most he's allowed all season. Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds each hit two-run homers.

Edmonds joined an elite group of left-handed batters to get three hits in a game off Johnson. Edmonds has five division series homers in his career, three against Arizona. He has hit safely in 11 of 14 career postseason games, batting .351 (20-for-57).

"I treat this like it's supposed to be treated," Edmonds said. "This is the playoffs. This is what it's all about. I try to be more prepared and try to be more focused. It's tough to stay that mentally focused for 162 games. But if you can't do it now, then you shouldn't be playing this game."

Schilling said St. Louis has "probably as good an offense as I'll ever face, top to bottom."

In a loss to St. Louis last week, Schilling struck out 12 but allowed three-run homers to Rolen and J.D. Drew.

In Sunday's regular-season finale against Colorado, Schilling gave up a three-run homer to Brent Butler in one inning of relief. But the Cardinals were saying all the right things about Schilling.

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa was not with his team on Wednesday. He traveled to his home in the San Francisco area to attend to some personal business, and was to return to Phoenix Thursday morning. He left it to pitching coach Dave Duncan to talk about the upcoming game.

"I don't think there's a person in our clubhouse that thinks that the game against Curt Schilling is going to be an easy game," Duncan said. "We're going to have our work cut out for us the remainder of the series."

The Diamondbacks were anything but uptight in their workout following the most one-sided postseason defeat in the team's five-year history.

"Last year we went to St. Louis tied 1-1," Mark Grace said. "We fully intend to do the same thing this year."

They will have to beat 39-year-old left-hander Chuck Finley, acquired by the Cardinals in a trade with Cleveland in mid-July, a month after the death of St. Louis starter Darryl Kile.

"When I got here, I really could sense the fact that something drastic had gone on," Finley said. "Guys were doing a lot of healing and trying to find some way to get through it."

He went 7-4 in 14 starts with St. Louis with a 3.80 ERA.

"I feel like I got a shot of adrenaline when I came over here," Finley said. "With this team, you take the field and you know you're good, you know you have a chance to go somewhere special."