FORT MYERS, Fla. -- What is it like when you really and truly are getting everybody out?

"It's hard to put into words," reports Mike Timlin.

Ah, yes, Mike Timlin, the great What-If? of the 2003 American League Championship Series. He was warming up in the sixth inning of Game 7. He was warming up in the seventh inning, too. If Grady Little had decided to extend his thanks to Pedro Martinez after seven fine innings, Mike Timlin would have replaced him.

Yeah, if.

Can anyone say for sure what would have happened? No. But here is what we do know: Mike Timlin was the hottest setup man in baseball at the time. Mike Timlin was just about unhittable in October 2003.

His postseason numbers were dazzling. He pitched 9 2/3 innings of one-hit, shutout ball. He fanned 11, and of his two walks, one was intentional.

If someone lasts 14 seasons in the big leagues, he must have something to offer. Clearly, Mike Timlin has been an effective reliever. But he has never been as detrimental to the mental health of batters as he was at the end of last season.

"The guy pitched very well all year," says Jason Varitek. "He was great, other than one or two outings. As the year ended, he had the fear of the split going for him, and that made a difference. He had the sinker, the cutter, the four-seamer, and a change. As the season wore on, his confidence grew. And the confidence of the hitters was gone before they even stepped in. The big thing is he's learned to utilize his pitches to get to his sinker. When it came to getting out of a jam, he was our go-to guy all season."

The numbers bear that out. There was, for example, a five-week stretch from July 8-Aug. 27 in which he fanned 23 and walked only two (one intentional) in 24 2/3 innings.

"The confidence built up as time went on," Timlin confirms. "The second half of the year, it was swing and miss, hit the ball on the ground or pop it up, with an occasional hit here or there. It was a total encompassing thing. I had all my pitches working."

As a soon-to-be 38-year-old vet (Wednesday), there isn't much Mike Timlin hasn't seen. He was a Toronto signee out of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and he made a dutiful progression up the Blue Jay ladder, pitching in Medicine Hat, Myrtle Beach, Dunedin, and Knoxville, before making his big league debut in 1991. He was a member of both the 1992 and 1993 Toronto world championship teams (0.00 ERA in 3 2/3 innings pitched in the Series), remaining in Toronto through 1997, at which point he embarked on a classic baseball journeyman's odyssey that took him from Seattle to Baltimore to St. Louis to Philadelphia to, finally, Boston, where he signed a free agent contract Dec. 24, 2002. Talk about flying in under the radar...

Even with all that experience, nothing quite prepared him for playing in Boston.

"Having played in St. Louis, I was able to experience the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry," he points out. "On the field, it is very similar to the Red Sox and the Yankees. The players have the same type of rivalry. But what takes place between the fans here is another dimension entirely. Sometimes they get a little carried away."

A little?

Along with fellow moundsmen Curt Schilling and Ramiro Mendoza, he has actually scaled baseball's mountaintop. But it's now coming up to 12 years since it happened. Can he even remember what it felt like?

"I can recapture that feeling," he says. "But it is hard to convey it to someone else. I can explain what I think it takes to get there. But as the saying goes, `You can lead a horse to water...' I do think this team has the same drive and same work habits we had in Toronto. I really want to win one here because I cannot imagine what this town would be like if we won. It would be the personal pinnacle of my career if the Red Sox could win the World Series. As I was running this morning, I was praying the Red Sox could win the World Series."

Mike Timlin is a man of faith. Ask him, for example, if it's possible he's actually getting better as he ages. "That's up to God," he says. "If I'm getting better, that's in God's eye. I have to rely on what he gives me, day in, day out. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to do what I do."

One thing the Man Upstairs seems to have given him is the ability to throw the baseball where he wishes. His career-long calling card has been control, but last year he established a personal standard that will be pretty tough to match. In 83 2/3 innings pitched last year, he struck out 65 and walked but nine, three of which were intentional. He was the quintessential anti-nibbler, averaging 3.51 pitches per batters faced. A guy like that engenders confidence among his teammates and enhances their play. There is nothing fielders hate worse than a pitcher who is all over the place. Someone executing his craft the way Mike Timlin did last year is an absolute joy to play behind.

"I have no explanation for it," he acknowledges. "All season long, I just threw it where I aimed it. Day in, day out, I would take what happened last season all over again."

He's had better regular-season ERAs, but when you examine the totality of his season, concluding with that stone-cold dominance in October, you can argue that Mike Timlin was as good last year as he's ever been. Is it reasonable to think he could be that good again?

Mike Timlin doesn't know. I'm sure he'd say that question should be directed to a Higher Authority.

Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.