To Curt Schilling, it's an open-and-shut case: Convinced it affects his performance, he wants the retractable roof at Bank One Ballpark closed when he pitches.
The Arizona ace didn't get his way Wednesday night yet still got the win.
Schilling became baseball's first seven-game winner, overcoming an early homer and leading the Diamondbacks past the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3.
"I prepare to pitch to win. They pay me to win, and I try to give myself the best possible chance," Schilling said. "I just thought that that would give me an advantage."
Schilling is sure that fly balls carry farther to left field with the roof open and recently asked the Diamondbacks to accommodate him by closing it.
The team agreed and said Arizona starting pitchers would decide — that is, until the club was flooded with e-mails and phone calls from angry fans.
Owner Jerry Colangelo talked to Schilling before the game, then announced the new policy had been changed. So with the temperature a pleasant 79 degrees, the roof was opened before the game as the crowd cheered.
After the victory, Schilling was asked about the change in plans. He hit the roof, so to speak.
"You guys have made that into a Watergate scandal," Schilling said, "and it really should never have been. He's the owner of the team. The roof is where he wants it to be."
Schilling, who shared the World Series MVP award with teammate Randy Johnson last year, said he felt he'd been unfairly painted as a pampered athlete making demands on the franchise.
"It's filled reams of paper and the airwaves making me out to be something I'm not," Schilling said. "I've never been spoiled. I don't make demands. I never have. Anybody here that knows me knows that."
DODGERS 3, BRAVES 1: Odalis Perez shut down his former team for eight innings and led Los Angeles over Atlanta at Turner Field. Perez, traded with Brian Jordan from the Braves to the Dodgers last January for Gary Sheffield, gave up five hits.
GIANTS 8, METS 2: Kirk Rueter earned his 100th career victory, outpitching his best friend to finally beat the Mets. Rueter won his fifth straight start overall. He had been 0-5 in 12 previous starts against New York. The Mets lost their fourth in a row.
PHILLIES 5, ASTROS 3: Pinch-hitter Ricky Ledee connected for a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning at Veterans Stadium. After losing a team-record 18 games in April, Philadelphia has won five straight.
MARLINS 7, PADRES 4: Third baseman Cesar Crespo made a bad throw home, and Florida rallied for four runs in the eighth inning to beat visiting San Diego. The Marlins moved into a tie for the NL East lead with the Mets.
CARDINALS 3, CUBS 2: Matt Morris struck out 10 and St. Louis avoided a three-game sweep despite another homer by Sammy Sosa. Sosa hit his major league-leading 14th home run in the first inning at Wrigley Field.
ROCKIES 5, EXPOS 0: Todd Helton, Larry Walker and Todd Zeile homered and Colorado sent Montreal to its season-high sixth straight loss.
REDS 14, BREWERS 5: Austin Kearns hit a three-run homer and Adam Dunn had a bases-loaded double as Cincinnati beat visiting Milwaukee. Brewers reliever Brian Mallette, called up from the minors earlier in the day, was ejected when he threw inside to Kearns after giving up Reggie Taylor's two-run homer in the seventh.