BOSTON (AP) – Red Sox ace Curt Schilling said his right ankle isn’t recovering from surgery as quickly as he expected and he doesn’t think he’ll be ready to pitch by Opening Day.

“I’m going to be late, I think, starting the season,” Schilling told WEEI-AM on Tuesday.

Boston’s pitchers and catchers are due to report to spring training on Feb. 20. The World Series champions open their regular season April 4 against the Yankees in New York

Schilling, who underwent surgery on Nov. 9, said he had a cast removed from the ankle last weekend and learned for the first time that he wouldn’t be able to rotate his ankle for four to five weeks. That means he won’t be able to resume throwing when he had planned.

“So I’m looking at least another month before I start throwing, which puts me a month behind,” he said.

Schilling and team officials had said they expected him to be ready by spring training.

“There was always some uncertainty about it and there still is some uncertainty about it,” Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said. “It’s several months away and it’s very hard to calibrate with any specificity exactly when someone’s going to heal and get in condition.”

The right-hander had surgery to repair a ruptured tendon sheath on his ankle. The injury appeared to have ended his season in the middle of Boston’s World Series run. But team doctors, in an unprecedented procedure, made a wall of stitches in Schilling’s ankle to keep the tendon in place.

Schilling started Game 6 in the AL Championshp Series and, with blood seeping through his sock, beat the New York Yankees. Boston eventually won the series.

Schilling didn’t elaborate on when he thought he might return and left open the possibility that he might be ready sooner than expected.

“Lots can change once it comes out of a cast and I get going and I know I’ve been a quick healer,” he said. “But as of right now the timetable looks something later than Opening Day.”

AP-ES-12-14-04 1732EST