Major League Baseball
World Series notebook: Boston may use Schilling again

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ST. LOUIS — The Boston Red Sox will try to get Curt Schilling ready for another World Series start. They certainly hope they don't need to use him.

Pitching again with his damaged ankle tendon stitched down, Schilling led Boston to a 6-2 victory over St. Louis in Game 2 on Sunday. The Red Sox hope they can close out the Cardinals before the right-hander's next scheduled start, in Game 6.

But Boston is planning ahead anyway.

"We'll do the same thing we always do, evaluate him and prepare for his next start," manager Terry Francona said yesterday. "This isn't something we would do for 30 starts, obviously."

Before Game 2, team physician Dr. Bill Morgan raised doubts about whether the unprecedented medical procedure could be performed on Schilling's ankle a third time without further damage.

Sweet home St. Louis

The Cardinals are thrilled to be sleeping in their own beds again because their trip to Boston last weekend was frustrating in several ways.

Not only did St. Louis lose the first two games of the World Series, the team's hotel was in Quincy, Mass., about 15 miles — and as much as a 45-minute drive in traffic — from Fenway Park.

Room service was not available after 11:30 p.m., and several players were unhappy with the lack of transportation alternatives to team buses.

"It was real disappointing," manager Tony La Russa said. "That's why I suggested that we make the Boston hotel in Jefferson City" — the Missouri capital, which is about 90 miles west of St. Louis.
 

Notes

• Cardinals RHP Jason Marquis is still scheduled to start Game 4 tomorrow, even though he pitched in relief Sunday. He worked a scoreless seventh in Game 2. The team was not happy with his previous two starts in the postseason.

"One of the best things that happened (Sunday) was to get him out there and get him a little work," La Russa said.

• The first two games drew the highest TV ratings for the start of baseball's championship since 1996. An average 14.7 percent of the 109.6 million U.S. households with televisions watched the games, according to Nielsen Media Research Inc., the best ratings since the Braves and Yankees attracted 14.9 percent eight years ago.