Yesterday morning I was in the coffee shop talking to a friend about the Red Sox of course. As he walked off he said, "I have a bad feeling about tonight." I agreed.

I then went into the office and ran into some one in the hall who said, "I'm not sure about Schilling."

I said, "At least he's facing the Kansas City Royals."

After work I went home and told my wife that Schilling was returning to the rotation. Her smile turned to a frown and warned it was going to be bad.

At 8 p.m. I turned on the tube. By 8:45 p.m. I was depressed. All the premonitions had come true. The Boston Globe says the Red Sox expected a tough transition as well, but perhaps not this rough.

I watched as manager Terry Francona sat quietly on the dugout bench. Sometimes pretending he wasn't bothered by Schilling's struggle. I watched as Schilling sat between innings studying his books, logging his pitches.

Schilling just couldn't get any rhythm. In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Schilling blamed his bad outing on a lack of confidence.

He's says he felt "normal." But if you ask me he didn't look normal. Not having confidence in his signature pitch, "the splitter," isn't normal. He had no velocity or at least I saw no pitch over 91 mph. And all those eager Royals who have had little success against, well, anyone, suddenly looked like an offensive powerhouse.

In the end, Schilling was charged with six earned runs in five innings. Increasing his ERA to 6.89. I repeat 6.89!

His WHIP is 1.55! The last time it reached that level was in 1991 for Houston when he worked out of their bullpen.

The numbers are quite similar except for that ERA:
1991: 75 IN, 3 W, 5 L, 8 SV, 3.84 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 32ER, 79 H, 39 BB, 71Ks
2005: 47 IN, 5 W, 6 L, 9 SV, 6.89 ERA, 1.55 WHIP. 36 ER, 63 H, 10 BB, 52 Ks.

He has been simply horrible since coming off the D.L. He can't close games or start them at this time. When will this all end? Is the ankle really healed?

But ESPN's Jayson Stark says it will be a while and I'll cut Schilling some slack.

I appreciate what he has done for the Sox, I really do. I have written about his courage and selflessness. But now the tide has turned and he's drowning out there.

But I can not blame the back-to-back losses on Schilling.

As Johnny Damon says in another Boston Globe article by Chris Snow, the responsibility has to fall to the hitters. And, I'll add Francona to the list.

The lineup was void of hitters. No Ortiz (.293), No Nixon (.290), No Graffanino (.304). Instead Millar (.273), Alex Cora (.220) and Gabe Kapler (.246).

There is no reason in the world why John Olerud should be batting third in Boston's lineup, regardless of his average. None. When Ortiz is unavailable, Olerud should be batting seventh. That would leave Manny Ramirez to third a position he fought to have a year ago and Varitek to cleanup.

Where was Nixon? He should have been batting fifth againsy right-hander pitcher Jose Lima. Yes, he's coming of an injury, but as I've said 1 million times it's about winning series.

Let's not forget that the manager must have known at the start of the game that the second-place Yankees had won their game against the Blue Jays.

The manager could better assess how the game was going with his best potential offense in the game. That way if the Red Sox still get rocked fans like myself have no one to blame.

The Red Sox actually never should have let Nixon play that last game in the minors . But again hindsight is 50-50.

So then Millar hits sixth, Olerud seventh, Mueller eighth and Cora ninth.

Still having the lefty-rightly thing going accept for the second and third spots.

Isn't this Baseball 101? But before I change the subject. I too must take some blame for the jinx I placed on the Sox before the start of Wednesday's game. It will not happen again.

The Sox return to Fenway Park tonight for a delayed game against the Detroit Tigers. Delayed because the Rolling Stones destroyed the outfield.

The field is in really rough shape. I'm disturbed. Dan Shaughnessy call's the Stones carpet baggers. Clever.

I am appalled that the Red Sox organization would allow such damage to occur especially in a pennant race. The rest of the field which was covered seems to be in good shape although I know of at least one Stones/Red Sox fan who took the opportunity to grab some grass while attending the show.

He joked that if a ball took a bad hop on the grass and Bill Mueller is not able to make the play to blame him. I am fully prepared to do so.

I'm also curious as to how many other Stones fans took the opportunity to cause a bad hop. But with the jinx on my mind and the condition of the field, I think the Sox will have another rough one tonight (Can you say reverse psychology?).

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