The reporters at SoxCorner ask Sox fans if they think Curt Schilling should retire. Most seem to think he should come back. Even the Phillies fan.

With less than 40 games left in the season, talking heads will soon be clamoring about Most Valuable Player candidates. And since I own a head and I like to talk, I’m going to start clamoring about Kevin Youkilis. Without denigrating the accomplishments of other players (since that’s bush league and boring), I’m simply going to state the case for why the Red Sox first baseman should be able to garner loads of top 5 votes from Major League Baseball writers.

Given his production and versatility (both in the lineup and in the field), as well as the team’s position in the standings, Youkilis has to be considered one of the top 10 candidates for American League MVP right now. In no particular order, here are the other candidates, based on a combination of their stats and their team’s success:

Josh Hamilton — .300/.365/.543, with 28 home runs and 114 RBIs. Texas is 15.5 games back of LAA and 10.5 back of the Sox in the Wild Card.

Ian Kinsler — .319/.375/.517, with 102 runs, 71 RBIs and 28 steals. Texas is 15.5 games back of LAA and 10.5 back of the Red Sox in the Wild Card

Milton Bradley — .316/.442/.583, with 20 home runs and 62 RBIs. Texas is 15.5 games back of LAA and 10.5 back of the Red Sox in the Wild Card

Carlos Quentin – .293/.395/.586, with 35 home runs and 96 RBIs. CWS lead Central Division by 1 game over MIN.

When Joe Torre was with the Yankees, he always used to say that reaching 20 games over .500 was an important and often overlooked benchmark for a team. Overlooked because a team could reach 20 games over and not, percentage-wise, be playing the best baseball of the season.

With last night’s victory the Red Sox are now 20 games over .500 for the first time in 2008 (71-51, a .582 winning percentage) and yet they’ve had higher winning percentages this season. On June 27, for instance, the team was 18 games over .500 (50-32) and sporting a .610 winning percentage.

To understand the importance of going 20 games over .500 at this juncture of the season, consider this: If Boston simply plays .500 baseball (20 wins, 20 losses) the rest of the season, they’ll win 91 games. If the team holds to its home/road winning percentages (.750 and .444, respectively), the Red Sox can expect to win 16 (actually, 16.5) of their final 22 home games and 8 (actually, 7.92) of their final 18 road games. If so, the team will finish with 95 wins — the number Theo Epstein always targets as the minimum needed to reach the post-season.