The LDS is over and the LCS begins tonight. Is there anything more satisfying in baseball than an LCS sans the Yankees and Braves? The Yankees went whining into Orange County claiming they'd have home-field advantage were it not for Buck Showalter pulling the trio of Michael Young, Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira in the 3rd inning of the Rangers season finale against the Angels.
Well, Yankees -- especially ARod, he of the .133 batting average in the 5-game series -- you just didn't take care of business. And all of the middle and lower class teams in MLB couldn't be happier.
Seriously though (and some of my anti-ARod bias is going to show through on this one) is there a more underchieving guy in baseball than ARod? Not talking about his personal stats, but for a guy who played with Griffey, Jr. and Randy Johnson during the Seattle heyday and now is surrounded by $150 Million in support, the guy just can never get over the hump.
Let's see, ARod leaves the Rangers and they dramatically improve. ARod arrives in pinstripes and they haven't returned to the World Series since. Hmmmmmm....
-------------------
My pre-LDS predictions were 2-for-2. I got the Astros and the Angels. Lost out on the Red Sox and my longshot pick -- which was really just a shameless attempt to incite my brother-in-law -- the Padres.
Now for the LCS predictions. The poor Angels had to hop a plane immediately following last night's victory for a flight to Chicago to begin the series tonight. The lack of rest gives the White Sox, who haven't played since last Friday, a decided advantage early. BUT, Ozzie Guillen is not a good manager and this collection of White Sox are entering uncharted waters. I realize some in the media are trying to make this year's White Sox equate to last year's Red Sox feel good story (the White Sox's series win over the Red Sox was their first post-season series win since 1917) but it ain't happening. Too much inexperience combined with a loose cannon for a manager. The White Sox jump out to an early series lead, only to see it vanish late. The Angels win in 7.
As for the National League. The baseball fan in me cannot wait for another post-season series between the Astros and Cardinals. The seven-gamer they played last year was an incredible, riveting series of games.
Expect more of the same this year.
The Astros are set to throw Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens in six of the would-be seven games of the series. And with Brad Lidge in the back, the Astros only have to win the first seven innings with Lidge slamming the door.
The Cardinals have had a remarkable run. But there is something about Tony LaRussa's teams that resemble Bobby Cox and the modern-day Braves. How many good teams has LaRussa had only to win one World Series title?
The snake that bit the Braves on Sunday bites the Cardinals in this series. The Astros win another classic series in 7.
-------------------------
What irony from Sunday's great Astros/Braves finale. Did you hear that both Lance Berkman's 8th inning grand slam and Chris Burke's game-winning, 18th inning homer were caught by the same fan?
Shaun Dean, a 25-year old Astros fan sitting in the Crawford boxes in leftfield, caught both home run balls.
What are the chances of that?
