October 16, 2004

Win Today. Bronson Arroyo against the Yankees this year:
Date   IP   H   R   ER  BB   K   BF   PIT   Score

4/19 6.1 8 4 4 1 5 30 99 Boston 5-4
4/24 6 4 2 2 2 4 23 86 Boston 3-2
7/24 5.2 10 8 6 0 4 28 104 Boston 11-10
9/17 6 4 2 2 1 3 24 89 Boston 3-2
All outings were no decisions. Arroyo trailed 4-1 after 3 innings on April 19 (Patriots Day), but blanked the Yankees into the seventh and the Red Sox rallied to win 5-4. Five days later in Yankee Stadium, he pitched six strong innings and Boston won in 12 innings. July 24 was the rain-delayed brawl game and the September start was in the Bronx (Boston won that game with 2 runs in the top of the 9th off Rivera).

Speaking of Rivera, the rainout eliminated the off-day, so Torre has to be careful with when and where he uses his closer. He can't pitch five days in a row, so Boston needs to hit the Yankee starters early and get to the bullpen. There is no off day for the Sox bullpen either, but they have more relief depth than New York. ... The Red Sox should keep Lowe pitching Game 5 at home and have Pedro go in Game 6 in New York with an extra day's rest.

Schilling had what everyone describes as an encouraging session yesterday. He threw in the bullpen for more than 15 minutes (I heard on Fox he threw 70 pitches (?)) and, according to the Globe, "was able to push off the rubber with more force than on Tuesday in the Bronx. Schilling stopped twice during the throwing session to change shoes, going from a new high-top designed for him by Reebok to a traditional cleat and back to the Reebok to test the support for the ankle." Tito: "He threw with a lot more of a normal stride than in New York. That in itself was encouraging." ... The next step is another session, probably on Sunday.

The Yankees do not plan to change their rotation. Kevin Brown goes tonight, Orlando Hernandez on Sunday and Mike Mussina will pitch Monday (on an extra day's rest).

I feel good now, but I can tell that over the next 8 hours, I'll be slowly progressing from "confident" to "confident and a nervous wreck".

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