Post Season Upon Us

Wow! What an awesome year of baseball we were blessed with in 2006.
We had a little bit of everything there. Heck, we even got a no-hitter and a few flirts with others... including a near no-hitter vs the powerful NY Yankees offense. Yea, it really was a great, great year for baseball. Don't even think about the mud that flew.. just look at the shiny new version in front of us: Its The Post Season!

Lets take a look here, hmmmm.. A's vs Twins. Well, if you look back at my blogs you can see I didn't pick either to get there. I had the Mariners in the West and was certain that the White Sox and Tigers would make it from the Central. The White Sox dropped like a soggy wet one and the Tigers clawed and scratched their way through a very tough end of the season to end up as AL Wild Card reps. The Mariners.. well, never mind. :-)

Who do I like here? The A's are just sneaky. They have bigger bats then you think they do.. can you say Frank Thomas? And their arms are strong as well. I kind of like them... except for the fact that they open in Minnesota and have to face a formidable pitching staff in the Twins' staff... not to mention a studly offense led by AL Batting Champ Joe Mauer (Yea, same guy from Mauer QuickSwing - Awesome product by the way.. you should check it out here). I think I have to lean toward the home field advantage. It's there for a reason and when it comes to playoffs it may be the one thing that makes a difference in a team moving on. The Twins are tough at home winning 2/3 of their games there for the season. It stands to reason they will do well in a short series.

Tigers vs Yankees .. well, as much as I love my man Don Slaught and am excited for him and the Tigers to get to the playoffs, it would have been so much better to face the A's!! Losing the Division has really placed them in the Hornets nest in NY. The Bronx Bombers are awfully tough in the post season. Soooo much experience. Soooo much talent. Soooo much Jeter and Giambi and Sheffield and A-Rod and Johnson and Mussina and Johnson and.. and.. and... you get my drift.

The Tigers had a really tough ending to an incredible year. I think part of it could be the young arms having pitched more innings than in their past. The playoffs could infuse some Desire in the youth of the Tigers, and they do have great leadership in Pudge Rodriquez. But, they would simply have to play a superb series and have tremendous pitching to come out on top vs the Yankees.

As for the Yanks, well.. despite the fact that I recognized a lack of unity at the very beginning of the year (which did exist by the way).. they have gelled in the second half. With Matsui back they take on a completely different look and his bat compliments the rest of the lineup so very well.. it will be a Yankee win in this series. I can't see the Tigers getting past them, unfortunately.

Dodgers vs NY Mets. Well, I was pretty sure the Dodgers were going to make it. They had themselves a helluva year.. up and down and back up again when it counted. Their young players really stepped up all year. Adding Marlon Anderson late in the year was a superb move my Grady Little. They will give the Mets all they wanted and more. Coming off a tremendous sweep at the close of the regular season to make the playoffs.. they are on a great roll now. They showed earlier in the year how they were able to prolong winning streaks. I think if they can split in NY in the opening two games.. they will win this series. Even though I love my buddy Rick Down and the Mets look incredibly awesome on paper, they are on a downward slide and it may be difficult to reverse it... even if it is the post season. But.. time will tell and either way this one shakes out I'll be happy. If the Mets win.. I'll root for my man Rick to get his ring. He deserves it. Hell, he deserves a shot at one of the vacant managerial jobs coming up. The man is a winner.. check his record here if you don't believe me.

And.. you know, just looking at that lineup.. it's hard to believe they could lose. Wright, Reyes, Delgado, LoDuca, Beltran, Floyd, Green.. The Dodgers will need to continue to ride the wave to beat this team. But.. like I said, either way.. this may be the best of the 5 game sets we get to watch.

Cards vs Padres. Maybe not the most intriguing of the matchups to start the playoffs. The Cards are limping badly and the Padres are rolling. They played very well down the stretch to snatch the West. I like the Padres here. Again, home field advantage is huge and the Cards are coming in wounded and wondering if they can win. Piazza has the Padres on a charge and I think the pitching will be good enough to quiet the bats of St Loo (not even a whisper at the end of the season). It will be fun to watch Phat Albert though, he is an incredible hitter. If nothing else you have to hope to watch him in a clutch situation. He is so focused and steady, there is alot to learn here.. just by watching.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Enjoy the Playoffs.. they should be Fan Tastic!