Despite the loss

I saw quite a bit to be excited about today. Schillling and Foulke both pitched better than they did last time. If they keep improving, I think we'll have a shot in the playoffs. Without both, they'll crash and burn.

Schilling struggled to put the ball where he wanted. You could see Varitek setting up here and there, and Schilling just wasn't hitting his target. But, he was still doing better than last time. His line 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K in 6.1 innings isn't exciting. When the playoffs start, you're going to be happy he was out there blowing the rust off now.

Foulke was more encouraging with 1.2 innings, 0 ER, 1 K. And he looked sharp out there. It wasn't quite closing, but he took another step closer to winning back his role.

It's still amazing to me how a rookie makes the Sox look silly every time. When the Sox make it to the playoffs, whoever they face should just bring in their most inexperienced pitcher!