playoffs?!!?!

uncle dave is on vacation so ill be doing this thing solo for a few days.

just wanted to point out that in my mock draft i got only 2 right. the first and the last. ironic.

i feel i must explain, defend, justify my baseball picks from a few weeks ago. here goes.
first off, the al east: i picked the sox to win, no explanation needed. they are simply the best team in the league. this team is deeper than my obsession for celeb reality shows. their best hitter (papi) and their best pitcher (dice-k) go down and they dont miss a beat. rotation and bullpen is rock solid, proven, experienced big game guys. good mix of youth as well with lester, paps, delcarmen, masterson. lineup is a cohesive bunch, fast at top( jacoby, pedroia), power in middle and high on base at the end(youk, lowell,and crisp). francona is one of the best leaders out there. remember manny and youk got into a scuffle. you dont seem to hear about it too much. beckett is struggling. its quiet as can be. it seems the whole team is really steady and always stable .
we move to the central where i picked the tiggers. it actually looks like the twinkies are making a go at it with their recent 9 gamer but im still confident det will be the one on top at the end. obviously they have talent. but also bec they have jimmy leyland. he kept these guys believing when they could have easily folded. who knows why they sucked the first half but at the halfway point (81 games) they are actually over .500(41- 40). the production was going to come it was just a matter of time and when it did come would it have been too late. now seems like a perfect time. guys like cabrera verlander renteria c-grand are all stepping it up a notch or two and seem to be only getting better. combine this with the young'ns they brought in to infuse some energy and they are starting to form a strong team. kids like raburn, galaraga, bonine are contributing to a level that without them its ugly to imagine where this team would be had they not stepped in. zumaya and rodney are back from injury to bolster a pretty solid, flamethrowin pen.
chi is actually intriguing bec they have led the div most of the way and the offense still hasnt got under way. konerko, swish, and thome have been horrible. each one in the low 200's. yet they are still significantly above .500. the pitching has been the surprise. buhrle, danks, gavin floyd, contreras, and vazquez are performing as one of the better starting units in the mlb. combine that with another surprise carlos quentin, the stillmatic jermaine dye, the underrated joe crede and you got yourself a decent team. if only the other guys would play like they have in the past we might be talking about he best team in baseball. ozzie is no wizard, he wields a different type of stick. the most fiery guy in chicago this side of the north side. he wont let his team drop off that much. i think you can expect the underperforming veterans to pick it up and the "surprises" to fade a bit. this translates into a mediocre to good second half. they will be right there at the finish line but ultimately succumb to the tigers by a finger(perhaps a middle one).
in the west: its the angels wire to wire. simple as that.
the wild card: i went with the yankees. as much as people are sick of this team or are at least sick of them getting predicted to do this and that every year they still have what it takes. say what you may, but the components will always be there, the only question remains is can they do it. i say yes and i will give you one word to clear it all up for you. you ready? its coming.... right now........JOBA!!.
it sounds crazy but this guy is a top of rotation guy by the time he made his 5th start. tell me how many 21 year old guys have exceeded expectations like that in the last 10 years. guys like homer bailey, phil hughes, mike pelfrey (9th overall-2005) still might be good one day but generally these things take time to come together. joba came up last year and dominasted out the bullpen. started this year and stayed just as strong, then shifted to a spot in the cycle and all he does is quality. you just dont see those 2 and 1/3 innings - 7 er type of games. his worst start would be a like a 4 and 2/3 with 2 er and five walks. fastball hits 99-100. slider is shiznasty. throw in a decent curve and when he is dealing strikes he cant be touched. granted his walks are up, he is struggling to get his secondary pitches over for strikes yet he is still fighting out of jams and getting it done. picture this : in september the yanks could potentially roll out a rotation of wang, joba, pettitte, a rejuvenated moose, and either kennedy or hughes, whichever makes more strides. not half bad. that to me will be the difference in making a run or not. they will have superior starting pitching than their wild card competitors, most likely the rays, oak, and det/chi. the offense isnt half bad either and they have a guy named mo who can close out a big game or two late in the season. troy percival just doesnt do it for me. the rays talent is astounding, and their youth is a breath of fresh air but in september, you need some experience and been there done that type of mentality. i can just see it now, its mid sep and the rays are in a must win against a good team. upton uses his speed and runs down a gapper but mishandles it and a run scores. longoria in the biggest game of his life makes a rare crucial throwing error. hinske strikes out in a big spot. this can happen to any team but my point is the talent they do have like pena crawford upton longoria have never even sniffed october. and the veteran guys that have played in big games are frankly not that good( hinske, cliff floyd, percival, bartlett). i dont like that balance.

nl east: at this point last year the mets, pads, and brewers were leading their respective division. as it turned out none of them went on to win their division(phi, chi, ari). this year i stayed with all three current div leaders to hold on for dear life. it just so happens to be the exact same teams as last year. this bothers me a little, considering the fact that it doesnt happen often( that the same 3 teams win their respective division 2 years in a row, in case you are not following). im too lazy to do the research but feel free to chime in. anyway, the phillies( nl east) have the strongest lineup in the league, and they play in a new york backyard. i was trying to remember the last time one team had 3 straight mvp's with all different guys. off the top of my head i came up with the 1921-23 st louis browns. joking ,again too lazy. but it happens this year (howard-06,rollins last year) with chase the "base" utley taking home the award( and then presumably putting it on his mantle or leaving it in a box in the garage). after hamels theres not much to waste paper on, but when you score 13 a night you have a shot at outscoring the other guy. lidge is back like britney on how i met your mother. manuel might be the worst manager in the game but he doesnt get to bat. i dont foresee any revenge of the mets taking place although they will play better in the second half. the braves sadly, are a forlorn bunch. they are ravaged with injuries. they have a manager who farts foul-line chalk. the rotation is more top heavy than dolly parton. too many roadblocks to overcome. the marlins crush the ball. they all hit homers, but they dont all play defense, and they dont all close out games too well either. and they have a triple-a 3rd base coach as a manager.

nl central: the baby bears are extremely balanced. right now it looks like they are the frontrunners in the nl. it all starts with the big z. zambrano is the prototypical ace. he is a stopper. goes out and eats innings, strikes out a bunch, and wins. dempster is a total surprise. he has been one of the best number 2s in the majors. lilly has been solid, and the back end gets nice production most of the time with marquis, gallagher. they will usually keep you in the game. the lineup is impressive. when healthy they have soriano and theriot, thats power, crazy speed, and solid on base percentage. then opposing pitchers have to face(in no particular order) d-lee, aramis, edmonds(what the hell happened in sd?), fukodome(2nd best rookie in the nl), and geovany soto( the best rookie in the nl). derosa, reed johnson, mike fontenot are better roleplayers than the average team has. i see this team in tandems. soriano and theriot at the top. dlee and aramis in the middle. z and dempster 1-2 in the rotation. but the best tandem they have is marmol and k-wood. the tandem at the tail. scary in the late innings. throw in howry, leiber and lefty cotts, its of the strongest out there. they also have a manager (sweet lou- reds) who has won before and wont let his guys play soft. its also 100 yrs since their last one so why not. have a ball. go crazy.

nl west: this is like the "do i really have to pick one"? division. i seriously wanted to skip this div bec they all suck save for a nice start by the dbacks. other than that its embarrassing. hurdle went from a genius to just a guy with a really big, really red head. the giants are playing to fill out the back of their cards. the dodgers prove that it was jeter all along and not anything torre ever did. the pads are thinking of inserting the chicken in the cleanup spot. lastly the dbacks. talent wise, definitely way above average. maturity wise, definitely way below average. webb and haren are winning games but micah should be playing left and randy shouldnt be playing at all (side note: the guys' face looks worse than seals'). c young, drew, upton, jackson, reynolds are all studs, but it seems they all need to be playing well at the same time to win games. its hard to rip these guys for underperforming bec their age tells you they are not supposed to be that good anyway (you can argue that not one regular is in their prime, either past it or before it). but we saw last year that they have something. maybe its still too much of a grind. maybe its the chemistry. maybe its the manager. whatever it is they should be running away with this thing and right now theyre not. with that said theyll be able to get 88ish wins and that will be enough to win the left coast.

the wc: it will be mayhem throughout wisconsin when the beloved brewers capture a spot in playoffs. the beer and cheese will flow in the wild card parade that will shift from town to town and last longer than the actual playoffs regardless of what the brewers do in the postseason. it will be one big drunken, mustached, flannel party. maybe im going overboard but whos still reading at this point. seriously though, with sheets, suppan and sabathia at the top they are primed for a run. and yes trading for cc is part of the equation in this prediction. they have the farm talent to pull it off and they are going to want it bad. there are legit very good, very underestimated players on this team. other teams should fear braun and fielder. surrounding them are weeks(coming into his own), cameron (still doing it post-steroids and post collision), russell branyan, cory hart, jj hardy, and billy hall (4 of the best baseball names to play on one team). the bullpen gets the job done. ned yost (another great name) is a baseball man. they will find a way to beat out the cards for the final spot and trigger the happiest days in the history of the great state of wisconson.

jimmy sports