The Red Sox official site called it a frustrating night for Curt Schilling.

But what about me? What about every Red Sox fan in the Nation? Talk about frustrating.

I sat there glued to my television set, watching every pitch.

And at the end of the sixth, as Schilling was walking off the mound to the dugout, I actually said, "Good job," to him through the tube.

Then I saw him come out of the dugout in the seventh. "What in the...." I thought to myself. "This is a mistake."

Are Terry Francona and Dave Wallace afraid of Schilling or is it they don't trust the bullpen?

At the beginning of the seventh Schilling's pitch count was over 100. He was in line for the win but tired.

I realize that he hit 94 and 93 on the gun in the sixth, but he was out of gas.
Being the competitor he is, I'm sure he wanted to com out and give the old college try - for the team - of course. But again I think this is an ego trip.
At some point Francona should have made a move.

Managers only win, in my estimation, about 10-15% of the games, thhe rest come to good pitching or good hitting. This is one of the 10-15%.

Schilling should have been pulled. Schilling had pitched pretty well for those six innings. He made a couple of costly mistakes but that willhappen over the course of the game.

I still do not understand why he didn't adjust his game plan. Like Tampa Bay, the Blue Jays sttarted hitting aggressively in the fourth - swinging at the first pitch they saw. Schilling saw this happening but didn't change his pitch selection until the sixth - or so it seemed to me.

And if the coaching staff and Francona do not trust the pen, then why not take your chances with the benches empty instead of pressure situations?

Sitting in my chair I thought that Chad Bradford, Craig Hansen and Jeremi Gonzalez did a decent job.

Speaking of Gonzalez, why wasn't he brought in to start the seventh? This is a guy who could go long relief. Heck, he had some success as a starter. And although Bradford ended up striking out Shea Hillenbrand, who ended up with four strikeouts in the game, I would have much rather seen a guy who could throw high heat.

I can not understand why Chad Harville is being used at all.
But that is another story.

There may have been another thing going on during last night's game. Perhaps there was some scoreboard watching going on. If indeed that was the case, that is no way to manage your club.

The New York Post's Kevin Kernan says "Schilling should worry about how he's pitching and not how his feelings have been hurt. " I couldn't agree more. It's sad that I have gone this low, listening to the likes of New York writers but it's true. He goes on to say that all eyes are once again on Schilling.

Sunday's game featuring the Yankees' Mike Mussina and Schilling should be interesting. The New York Times calls it Mussina's biggest start of the season. I'll go one further - career.

Mussina gave up 5 runs last night in a Yankee implosion. The New York Post's Mike Vaccaro explains how it was a "Lost night for everyone".

And if you honestly think the Red Sox bullpen is bad New York's allowed 12 more runs to score in Baltimore Tuesday. The New York Post says there is No relief for Torre.

There is no relief for anyone. Not even Rolaids is helping me.

With the way that these two teams are playing, it's simply amazing that the rest of the A.L. East isn't closer. Something has to get fixed and fast or Anaheim is going to roll right through all the opposition.

The Sox do have at least one good thing in their rotation. Tim Wakefield. He put together another brilliant performance in yesterday's opener. He is, and has been, the club's best pitcher this year - hands down. He leads all of Boston's starters in wins (16), innings-pitched (220), strikeouts (150), ERA (3.and WHIP (1.23). He should be the Game 1 starter come playoff time.

The Sox still have a share of the division lead. That's all I can ask.

E-mail this entry to a friend