King for a lifetime, fool for a... lifetime...

Now that Houston thumped the Braves today, all four division series are shaping up pretty much as I'd envisioned. Only, who'd have thought that three of the four series would get off to such lopsided starts? Houston and Boston look primed to sweep. They're legitimately the two best teams as of this moment in time. I stand by my pick of the Yankees to get to the World Series. Sure, they don't have the pitching that Boston and Minnesota do. Yeah, if they lose game 2 tonight, they can pretty much forget about getting by the Twins thanks to the fact they'll have to face Johan "I've been simply untouchable since the All-Star Break and am a mortal lock to win the AL Cy Young" Santana again. But they've still got that loaded lineup, still have homefield in the American League, and -- yeah -- they're still the Yankees. They're still the team to beat. Even if they just now decided to start Kevin Brown for game 3.

All you Southern Californians? You won't get any love from me. This is the first time that both the Angels and Dodgers are in the playoffs, but I've seen to it that the voodoo has snipped their chances of advancing past the opening round. Trust me on that. Besides, their opponents (Boston and St. Louis) are far superior clubs. To all the critics who thought St. Louis would struggle because of their pitching, hey, look when you run the opposing pitcher out of the game before the third inning (as they did yesterday to O'Dallas Perez), your big bats will be able to carry you just fine. The Cards beleaugered rotation is decent enough that if they get the run support (and they surely will) they will capture the crown.