"I'm not sure I can think of any scenario more enjoyable than making 55,000 people from New York shut up," he said Monday, a day before starting the opener at Yankee Stadium against Mike Mussina.

Before the first pitch was thrown, the AL championship series had players buzzing. They thought back to the 45 intense meetings between the rivals during the past two years, to the on-field fights and the clubhouse boasts.

But in a series that seemed predestined since Aaron Boone's Game 7 homer off Tim Wakefield won last October's ALCS in the 11th inning, there was an element of uncertainty for the Yankees this time. It centered on the status of closer Mariano Rivera, who returned to Panama Sunday after two of his wife's relatives were electrocuted in his swimming pool.

While the Yankees said Rivera planned to be back for tonight's game, manager Joe Torre wasn't taking anything for granted.

"If he's here tomorrow, obviously, it would be wonderful," Torre said. "If not, we understand that."

Tom Gordon, his left eye still a little blurry after it was hit by a champagne cork in Saturday's clubhouse celebration at Minnesota, would take over as the closer if Rivera is absent. Tanyon Sturtze and Paul Quantrill would replace Gordon as the setup man.

Following Boston's first-round sweep of Anaheim and New York's 3-1 win over the Twins, Schilling and Mussina are rested heading into the opener. The Red Sox rotation has Pedro Martinez pitching Game 2 Wednesday, followed by Bronson Arroyo Friday at Fenway Park and Wakefield the following day in Game 4.

Jon Lieber and Kevin Brown follow Mussina for the Yankees, who still haven't decided between Orlando Hernandez or Javier Vazquez in the fourth game.

Major League Baseball decided Monday to move Game 5 into prime time, bumping the NLCS to the earlier time slot. They are the two biggest spenders in baseball, the Yankees at $186.4 million and the Red Sox at $128.1 million, according to the Aug. 31 payroll.

Schilling, acquired by the Red Sox from Arizona last November, plays for moments like these. He has won six straight postseason decisions since 1993, allowing two earned runs or fewer in all nine of his starts. He beat Mussina for the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series opener.

Schilling knows games like these define careers.

"You can make a name for yourself in one inning, one play, one pitch that you can't make in another series with any other teams," he said.

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