Yankees and Red Sox open series
NEW YORK (AP) -- For Curt Schilling, Yankee Stadium is best when silent.
"I'm not sure I can think of any scenario more enjoyable than making 55,000 people from New York shut up," the Boston Red Sox ace said Monday, a day before starting the opener of the American League championship series against Mike Mussina.
Before the first pitch was even thrown, the series had players buzzing. They thought back to the 45 intense meetings between the rivals during the past two years, to the on-field fights and the clubhouse boasts, to the Yankees' 26 World Series titles and Boston's quest to win one for the first time since 1918.
But in a series that seemed predestined since Aaron Boone's Game 7 homer off Tim Wakefield won last October's playoff in the 11th inning, there was an element of uncertainty for the Yankees this time. It centered on the status of closer Mariano Rivera, who returned to Panama on Sunday after two of his wife's relatives -- a cousin and his son -- were electrocuted in his swimming pool.
Expected to return
Though Rivera said he'd be on hand for tonight's game -- "I am going back to New York tomorrow, after the funeral, and rejoin the team" -- manager Joe Torre wasn't taking anything for granted.
"If he's here tomorrow, obviously, it would be wonderful," Torre said. "If not, we understand that."
Tom Gordon, his left eye still a little blurry after it was hit by a champagne cork in Saturday's clubhouse celebration at Minnesota, would take over as the closer if Rivera is absent. Tanyon Sturtze and Paul Quantrill would replace Gordon as the setup man.
While Gordon's good, he's not Rivera. No one else is.
"I never had a problem with it. I enjoyed closing," Gordon said. "Whatever it takes for this team to get a win."
Following Boston's first-round sweep of Anaheim and New York's 3-1 win over the Twins, Schilling and Mussina are rested heading into the opener. The Red Sox rotation has Pedro Martinez pitching Game 2 on Wednesday night, followed by Bronson Arroyo on Friday night at Fenway Park and Wakefield the following night in Game 4.
Jon Lieber and Kevin Brown follow Mussina for the Yankees, who still haven't decided between Orlando Hernandez or Javier Vazquez in the fourth game. El Duque, bothered by a tired arm, felt better Monday, when he threw about 60 pitches in a bullpen session, according to pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.
Two biggest spenders
The Yankees and Red Sox are the two biggest spenders in baseball, New York at $186.4 million and Boston at $128.1 million, according to the Aug. 31 payroll. Judging by the TV ratings, baseball fans are captivated by New York's Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez and Boston's Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.
"I know this is what everyone was hoping for, I imagine," Mussina said. "I think it's the way it should be."
Schilling, acquired by the Red Sox from Arizona last November, plays for moments like these. He has won six straight postseason decisions since 1993, allowing two earned runs or fewer in all nine of his starts. He beat Mussina for the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series opener, then defeated him again on April 15 this year at Fenway Park.
"I don't know that I've ever pitched in a game that will have the atmosphere that [tonight's] game has. In Arizona during the World Series, it was electric," Schilling said, "but I think the Yankees and the Red Sox is a step above everything else.
"It's going to be loud," he predicted. "It's going to be thunderous."
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