I've Forgotten My Mantra

I tried to watch the Yankees-Tigers game last night, and only made it through the third inning, when Damon, Jeter, and Abreu had consecutive hits to score the first two runs of the game. I couldn't stomach it anymore. That lineup is just unreal. Damon, Jeter, Abreu, Giambi, Sheffield, Rodriguez, Cano, Posada, Matsui. Damn. Even with Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina calcifying before our eyes, that's pretty sick.

So I switched over to Annie Hall, just in time to hear my favorite line from one of my favorite movies of all time. That can't have been Jeff Goldblum's movie debut, could it? I'll check IMDB, but that might rank as the best one-line debut ever.

Ok, back to baseball. Here, quickly are my picks for the post-season. As I discovered at a conference yesterday, this could mean big money for all those who read this and immediately bet precisely the opposite of my predictions:

-Yankees/Detroit. Detroit pretty much limped their way into this one. Their last 50 games were almost as bad as the Sox last fifty. They went 19-31, I believe. Their young pitchers have very little left this late in the season. I didn't think they'd hold on as long as they did, but I didn't count on the White Sox pitching staying as bad as it had. At any rate, with the Yankees lineup, there are no opportunities for the Tigers pitching to catch a break or a breather. I'll go with the Yankees in 4.

-Oakland/Twins. I really like the Twins, for their ability to draft and develop seemingly endless solid players. Their lineup is pretty good, not great, except for Mauer and Morneau. The two of them won't be enough, though. Oakland doesn't have Johan Santana, but as we saw, if you can't score more than one run while he's pitching, even he can't win them all. Oakland's overall pitching staff will win this one. Oakland in 3. It's time Billy Beane had some karma break his way.

-Dodgers/Mets. Without Pedro, without El Duque, with maybe 70% of Tom Glavine, I don't think that the Mets can overcome this one. The Dodgers pitching is pretty good, by National League standards, and I think that they'll have enough to shut down even the formidable Reyes-Beltran-Wright-Delgado lineup core. If Derek Lowe's got his good sinker working, this might not even be that much of a series. Dodgers in 5.

-Padres/Cardinals. I know that the Cardinals won last night, and it appears that Albert Pujols may actually be all that St. Louis needs to stay competitive. Chris Carpenter pitched a good game, but the Padres blew too many opportunities in this one. They'll bounce back. Boomer will win tonight, and the Padres will win in 5.

In the second round (I'll not spend too much time on this because I'm going to be so wrong about the first round), I see Oakland upsetting the Yankees 4-2, and the Dodgers beating the Padres in five games. It will be an all-California Series, the second one in the last five years. The Dodgers and Oakland, and I'm going to have to wait to feel this one out. I like both teams quite alot.