Schilling: Story came from owners

Curt Schilling was a guest on the Dennis & Callahan show Thursday. The former Red Sox ace, now an ESPN analyst, was asked about Wednesday's Boston Globe report on the collapse of the Sox in September. In the story, sources indicated that issued related to Terry Francona's troubled marriage and use of pain medication by the former Sox manager might have played a role in the September failure of the Sox.

"Of all the things that I heard and saw talked about after it came out yesterday, did anyone put marital problems with struggling managing and bad September together?," Schilling asked. "I just feel like that was one of those, 'We need some people to buy this copy so let's put it in there.' Why? The medication, that's embarrassing and it's sad and it has nothing to do with anything because that same writer and all the people involved have been around Tito, and there were no incidents of him being off his rocker or out of it. And 30 days before that article and the season ended, everyone was OK with everything."

Schilling was asked if he was convinced that Sox ownership, as many suspect, were sources in the Globe story.

"Part of this did [come from ownership], absolutely," Schilling said. "There's no way it couldn't have. ... "[Francona] is upset. You guys know me. I would have acted irrationally and overreacted, I'm sure. I wonder legally whether he has recourse because the team trainer, the team doctor and the ownership, the executive people on this team I would imagine are the only people with enough knowledge of Tito's medicinal habits to make that comment, to have that news out there.This was somebody out to ruin this guy's life. Because now, I look at this almost like I look at a sexual harassment case. It doesn't matter if he did it or not. He's going to have to answer questions about this for the rest of his life."

Josh Beckett has been the subject of much criticism recently, with the Globe report of the right-hander eating fried chicken and playing video games in the locker room during games as the latest revelation. Schilling was asked if he was slightly disappointed by the actions of Beckett.

"I think beyond slightly would be a good guess," said, Schilling, a teammate of Beckett's in 2006-07. "I've talked to enough people to know that it's not lies. I think that the loss of John Farrell had a massive amount to do with why this all happened. I spoke to him the other day and the first thing I said to him was, 'Wow. I don't see any of this happening if you stay.' And he was like, 'Well, it might have happened, but there would have been a couple of fist fights along the way and I would have been gone at some point.' Poor Curt Young, because here's a guy coming in to a veteran staff trying to get to know his pitchers and they ... the amount of disrespect that the players involved here showed to each other, to the organization, to Tito, to the game, is staggering to me. Probably as staggering are some of the names that are on that list. I'm blown away. I'm incredibly disappointed. Things have changed here for a long, long time, and I think it's for the worse. I think the way that this was handled by the organization is pathetic and embarrassing. Why would you want to root for this team?"

To hear the interview, click on the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page. For more Red Sox news, visit weei.com/redsox.