That’s a huge win, no matter when it comes.

Don’t get us wrong, it doesn’t hurt that Curt Schilling’s dream-weaving through 6+ innings came in the World Series, and that it was enough to get Boston a very significant 2-0 advantage heading to the Rocky Mountains. That makes it even bigger.

But at the end of the line, the game would have been a big one if it happened in late June or early July, too. Hell, it would have been a great win in April. Between Schilling’s deft work around a rocky first inning - he hit leadoff man Wily Taveras and looked as if he might give up a lot more than an RBI-groundout to Todd Helton - and the bullpen fire fighters like Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, who combined for one of the most dominant relief appearances in nearly a decade of World Series’, Thursday’s win set a strong tone for the Sox.

Whether that tone will continue is another question, with weather, parameters, and all kinds of motivational factors in the balance - think Matt Holliday wants his eighth inning on the basepaths back? - but they have something they didn’t have in the ALCS: control.

– Cameron Smith