Schilling Set For Yanks; Tito To Miss Jays

Curt Schilling's line in Indianapolis was not pretty: six innings, 11 hits, seven runs. He threw 103 pitches, struck out six and walked none. ... The Globe's Chris Snow: "The difficulty, as it often is with tuneups of this kind, is how to decipher those totals. Whom and what to believe? Your eyes, your ears, the stat sheet? Or nothing?"

Schilling: "The performance and the way I felt were at opposite ends of the spectrum. ... But physically I don't have any questions in my mind about how I'm going to do or how I'm going to feel. I'm ready to go. ... In the bullpen I felt fantastic. I don't know that I was as live out there during the game. I feel like I've stretched it out. No fatigue. I didn't feel my stuff got any worse or my location any worse. I feel sharpness-wise I'm as ready as I've ever been at the end of spring training."

I found out too late that Schilling's start was being broadcast on MLB.com. In the clips I saw, however, Schilling looked quite beefy, even a bit fat. His next outing will be in Boston on Wednesday against the Yankees.

Terry Francona did not suffer a heart attack, but he will likely be away from the club for the entire series in Toronto. ... Wade Miller threw 60 pitches in an extended spring training game on Thursday. "I was trying to spot some pitches, work in some breaking pitches, and I feel like I was able to do that. It felt good." ... Among the players getting their World Series rings at Fenway on Monday will be Curtis Leskanic and Ellis Burks, who are both retired, and Derek Lowe, whose new team (Dodgers) are off on Monday.

The Herald's Gerry Callahan foresees a beanball war when the Yankees come to Fenway next week. "As sure as the stands are going to be full for the Yanks and Sox rematch, the dugouts are going to empty at some point. The bullpens, too. ... In the series against the Sox, four Yankees batters were hit by pitches before Jeter took one to the side of the head. Jeter, in fact, was hit in the left hand by Matt Clement on Tuesday ... Ortiz or Manny Ramirez had better be ready to duck."

There may be more batters hit (or brushbacked) in the series, but let's be clear: two of those four Yankee HBP were on pitches that Jason Giambi leaned into -- in clear violation of major league rules. They were in no way, shape or form bean balls. If the home plate umpire bothered to follow the rules, he would have called both pitches balls and told Giambi to keep batting.

More on Mariano Rivera:

John Tomase, Eagle Tribune:

In order to get to the clubhouse as soon as a game ends, most beat writers leave the press box at the start of the ninth inning, assuming the game's in hand. Mariano Rivera protecting a one-run lead once resulted in a mass exodus of journalists to the basement of Yankee Stadium. But as the strains of Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' wafted from the speakers yesterday afternoon, barely a writer stirred.

As Rivera was pulled on Wednesday, YESman Michael Kay said, "If he gets booed you really have to question the fans, after what he's done. You hope there aren't boos." Daily News media critic Bob Raissman responds:

Kay's statement was strange on a number of levels. Most notable was the fact that on Tuesday, after Rivera had gagged against Boston in Game 2 of the season-opening series, it was Kay, on ESPN-1050 radio, who ripped into the pitcher, casting doubt about Rivera's future. While there were no "boos" in Kay's Tuesday spiel, his content was a lot harsher, and more cutting, than the sentiment offered by Stadium boo-birds Wednesday afternoon.

Jon Heyman (Newsday) writes that Rivera is far from cooked, but he does have a problem:

Yes, the Red Sox are his daddy. That mango-loving megastar Pedro Martinez introduced that funny phrase to baseball's greatest rivalry and is maybe the only big-time player who'd ever admit such a thing. Yet, it applies equally well here. Maybe better.

It won't last much longer, but here's what Mark Bellhorn has done so far this season:

Game 1: K, double, K, K
Game 2: K, single, single, K
Game 3: K, K, single, single

Probable starters for Blue Jays series:

Friday: Bronson Arroyo/David Bush, 7:00
Saturday: David Wells/Roy Halladay, 1:00
Sunday: Matt Clement/Ted Lilly, 1:00