You wanna know what's really great? i mean, SERIOUSLY great?

Put your ear to the east and tell me what you hear coming out of the Windy City. You hear that horrendous choking noise, followed by sobbing?

Best sound i've heard in a while. :D

KS 361 times the sobbing we'll be hearing from Austin this next weekend will almost be better

Time shall tell - great run by the 'stros, it'll be interesting to see if that lineup continues to hit in the playoffs . . . plus Beltran is a stud, so it's good to see him in the postseason.


It's also good to see the Yanks have to go to the BaggyDome again, and the A's limp all the way out of the playoffs - good for them.


Yankees/Red Sox again? I don't know if I can take it, but it'll be fun. Sorta.

Oh, and the Cards might have more trouble with the Dodgers than you'd expect . . . just saying, is all - it all depends on Pujols and Rolen not shelling the lefties, if they can get Weaver in there twice . . . well, short-series baseball, anything can happen.

I don't like the fact that my team has to go and face and face Santana and company in the Dome. I'd love to see a Yankees/Sox rematch, but who knows with the year both teams are having.

Roger is unreal...to do what he's doing at his age is impressive (not as impressive as Julio Franco, but still impressive). The fact that he could end up with another Cy Young is ridiculous.

The Cards/Dodgers series will be better than most people think.

ETA: The A's missing the playoffs will give Joe Morgan more fuel to go on one of his bitter diatribes against Billy Beane. If any of you get the chance, read "Chasing Steinbrenner," about how the Sox and Blue Jays are employing a modified version of the Moneyball philosophy.

Morgan hasn't said anything interesting in like 3 years. His anti-Beane BS is unreal - I get that you're a HOFer, Joe, but seriously, until you can get some sort of proof that Beane's philosophies, which are shared by DOZENS of front-office types (successful ones, too) in baseball, somehow don't apply to the postseason, then just lay off. We get it, already.

As for Clemens - he's a robot, it's absurd and amazing all rolled into one. The best part is, as hard as he works, I'd still infer that it's 75% his mentality . . . in a lot of ways, he's The Perfect Pitcher (c).

The Yanks have struggled mightily in the House That Kirby Built Before Cataracts and Rape Charges Etc Etc (c), but it's always the same story: Santana strikes out 12 in 7 innings, gives up one run, the NYY rally for 3 more off JC Romero and win 4-2. It's tough to watch, but that's why they're the Yankees - even places they struggle, they still walk out with wins. Mad respect.

The unilateral, obligatory Predictions:

-Sox over Angels in 4 (and I'm even assuming the loss is the game Petey pitches . . . is that bad?)
-Yankees over Twins in 4 (lose to Santana, rally to win the next three, even when they stupidly bring the 25-yr-old lefty heir to the Martinez throne back after 3 days' rest.. ugh)

-Bravos over Houston in 5, assuming Roger throws games 1 and 4
-Cards over Dodgers, by virtue of Jim Tracy pissing it away with the vaunted "Three-Man Rotation Including Jose Lima" - but I flipped on this one a lot, the Ravine is a hell of a home-field advantage, and the Dodgers match up well.

Rock on gentlemen, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

A big, fat CO-SIGN!

But in all honesty, the Giants are my team, but they didn't deserve to go this year with their horrible bullpen. Hopefully, they will get some good arms in the off season and do some damage next year. Go Cards! :D

Predictions:

Sox over Angels in 3 (Sox are just too strong right now, Angels pitching too questionable)

Yankees over Twins in 5 (Santana makes me THAT nervous, even on 3 days rest)

Braves over Houston in 5 - I think this will be the best first round series.

Cardinals over Dodgers in 4 - will be tough, but Cards are just too strong.

The whole Moneyball philosophy is interesting, and it works; take a look at the Red Sox this year, or the A's of the past few years (and you can't just chalk that success up to the Big Three, as he says). His writing has gotten more and more conceited, as he mentions his HOF career more and more.