A right and a wrong

The Monk called it: the Redsax picked the long series for their upcoming playoff battle against the Angels. Why? is the real question. The Redstanx allowed the Angels to pitch Lackey and Escobar twice each on full rest, and save Jered Weaver for game 3 in Anaheim. This really is an advantage for the Halos and deprives the Redskunx of the opportunity to force the Angels into a four-man rotation, where the Redhos would have an advantage (Beckett-Schilling-DiceK-Wakefield v. Lackey-Escobar-Weaver-someone useless).

The Yanks will have the 7-day series against the Indians, and this is potentially an advantage for the Indians. Why? Because if necessary the Indians can pitch Sabathia on three days' rest in game 4 (and as a big bugger and the IP leader, he's probably the best-equipped pitcher in the league to handle that) and Carmona on full rest in game 5. Moreover, Torre is probably so blindly loyal that he would actually pitch Moose in game 4 if the Yanks trailed 2-1.

One thing to note: the Sax and Yanks are the best teams in baseball by far -- the Redstiffs expected record based upon their run differential is a whopping 103-59, the Yanks' expected record is 99-63 (and this is the first season under Torre that the Yanks have underperformed), the Indians' expected record is 92-70 and the Angels' is just 90-72, no NL team has better than a 92-70 expected record.

Now that the season's over, I want to brag about calling out ESPN's Steve Phillips for picking the Mariners for the wild card with 45 games to go when the Ms were tied with the Yanks. Talk about a stupid pick. I will be shocked if he doesn't pick the Indians and Angels for the ALCS. I know the Indians are everyone's trend pick now, but that team doesn't really hit as well as it should (just over 800 runs), the Yanks unquestionably believe they can beat the Indians, and the Yanks' offense this year is the most potent of any Torre team -- even outscoring the 1998 edition (968-965).