Defeat the Empire

He's baaaaaaaaaaack! (Or so we can hope.)

The vintage Schilling showed up at the stadium today and pumped in 8 strong innings in his first victory since being reinstalled in Boston's rotation in late August. His fastball was located well, his splitter was moving, his cutter was effective...he was vintage Schilling.

What this tells me is, that even though Curt isn't going to be dominant day-in, day-out starter he has been in the past, he will show up for the big games. Nobody pitches better in the spotlight than Curt Schilling, and if that last series at Fenway against the Empire means something--watch out, Yanks.

I've said for a while now, these Red Sox don't need Schilling to be an ace, they just need him to be a consistent starter. Boston scores enough runs to make guys like Tim Wakefield and Matt Clement 15-game winners. But if Schilling can pitch the way he did yesterday in the postseason, and be that stopper, the chances of the Sox repeating increase dramatically.

Tomorrow's an interesting matchup: Tim Wakefield against Randy Johnson. Which Randy shows up? Nobody knows, and that's the key to the outcome. A Boston victory in the Sunday matinee goes a long way towards ending the AL East race.