With the team's future increasingly dependent on pitcher Curt Schilling's right ankle, doctors decided to try an apparently unprecedented procedure to keep a tendon from slipping around in his ankle. But first, they wanted to test it out.

So they used a cadaver. No way to know if it was a Red Sox fan.

The Red Sox training staff hit upon the idea of sewing skin in Schilling's leg to the tissue underneath, creating a wall that would keep the tendon in place.

"It seems extreme. We couldn't find a case of it ever being done before," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said.

Schilling had three stitches put in at about 2 p.m. Monday.

Although there was some fluid and blood leaking through Schilling's sock Tuesday night, Epstein could see after the first pitch that Schilling was throwing normal. He went on to earn the win in Game 6.

The sutures were taken out after the game to avoid infection; if Schilling pitches again, they will be put back in. Epstein said there would be no problem repeating the procedure a couple of more times.

A FINE MESS: St. Louis manager Tony La Russa angrily confronted baseball disciplinarian Bob Watson on Wednesday, right after finding out reliever Julian Tavarez was fined $10,000 for throwing over the head of a Houston's Jeff Bagwell in Game 4. La Russa shouted, pointed and gestured. St. Louis general manager Walt Jocketty joined in.

"I'm not saying anything about it until we've talked to Major League Baseball," Jocketty said.

CROWD CONTROL: University of Massachusetts police arrested 35 people early Wednesday after the Red Sox beat the Yankees in Game 6. About 2,000 people swarmed into a residential hall complex after Boston's win. More than 100 police officers used smoke balls and pepper balls to break up the crowd.

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