Oh, it's getting ugly. I'm a little worried. Not about the playoff implications. I think the Red Sox will indeed make it to the post-season - one way or another.
I'm more concerned with Curt Schilling.

Schilling is due to start today against David Bush and the Blue Jays and Saturday against Randy Johnson and those hated Yankees. Both games are very important, obviously.

Schilling's ERA at home this year is a putrid 6.33. His ERA vs. Toronto is even more scary (9.00).

I hope that our revamped bullpen has enough gas to get us to the finish line. It's sort of crazy, but I trust the likes of Craig Hansen and Jon Papelbon more than the seasoned veteran.

It would appear that I'm not the only one worried. The New York Times reports that Terry Francona also became ill while watching Sunday's game. Yup. It is the last week in September all right.

The good news the Red Sox return to the friendly confines of Fenway where they hold the leagues best home record of 50-24. The Boston Globe's Gordon Edes writes about the importance of the Red Sox home stand.

I, like many of the playersl, am glad they are home too. Win or lose, they'll be in front of Fenway's Faithful.

Since the Red Sox average about 6 runs per game this is going to be a close one. Eric Leskowitz also of the Globe says it may come down to weird science.

One thing is for sure the Sox still have that magical chemistry.

In other news:

All of a sudden, Derek Jeter is on all media. Sunday night he was on "60 Minutes." I watched with mild interest. It was a horrendous interview. How he is New York's most eligible batchelor. How he is a great team player. How he supports Jason Giambi, even though he has set up a foundation which teaches kids to stay off the juice. How he loves his parents. How he makes me sick.

He has also made the news for his dating practices. ESPN reports that Jeter has received some hate mail (imagine that). Apparently the writer of the letter thinks Jeter should stick to his own kind. Jeter's father is black and his mother is white. So no matter who Jeter dates she would fall in either of those two categories or somewhere in between.

No matter how I feel about Jeter, this writer is simply sick. The writer apparently threatened Jeter saying, "he'll be shot or set on fire." Now how a person sets another person on fire, I don't know.

But even more disgusting than the letter is the fact that the media, including myself, are reporting this. Why is this news? We are in the middle of a heated pennant race and all ESPN can do is dig up this report. Wow.

Yankee fans and the New York Post's Jay Greenberg say good-bye to Bernie Williams. He hopefully played his last home game yesterday. Of all the Yankees I like him the best - especially his .226 average against the Sox.

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