THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE

October 9, 2004 ... No game scheduled ... The Yankees eliminated the Twins yesterday, taking a 6-5 win in 11 innings. New York won the best- of-five series, 3-1, and hosts Game 1 of the ALCS Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox. It'll be Curt Schilling against Mike Mussina. New York got the winning run thanks to some heady play from Alex Rodriguez. With one out, Rodriguez drilled a double down the left-field line off loser Kyle Lohse. He then stole third without drawing a throw and came home on Lohse's wild pitch. A-Rod went 8 for 19 in the series. Mariano Rivera, who pitched a perfect 10th, picked up the win by retiring the Twins in the 11th. It was Minnesota's fourth straight playoff home loss, all to New York.

The day after the Red Sox clinched a berth in their second straight American League Championship Series, principal owner John W. Henry happily prepared to play catch on his famous lawn in the Fens. Manager Terry Francona, as calm as he possibly could be as one of the most scrutinized decision-makers in America, stopped by to feed the media beast before he spent a relaxing afternoon with his father. And while the grounds crew carefully manicured the sun-splashed turf, camera-toting tour groups trained their lenses everywhere from the Monster scoreboard to the tobacco-stained Sox dugout.

October 10, 2004 ... No game scheduled ... Curt Schilling is expected to start Game 1 of the Championship Series against the Yankees in the Bronx, Sox officials acknowledged various levels of concern about his injured right ankle. Team medical director Bill Morgan said Schilling is battling inflammation of his peroneal tendons. The two tendons run behind the outside bone of the ankle and are considered vital to balancing the ankle and the back of the foot.  Francona said he expects Schilling to use the anesthetic Marcaine to alleviate the soreness, as he did to ease the discomfort from a deep bone bruise in his right ankle joint earlier in the season. Morgan, who prescribed cortisone treatment for the previous condition, said he did not plan to further treat Schilling with cortisone.