Championship Series Picks

RED SOX/YANKEES Any evaluation has to start with the fact that the BoSox outscored the Yankees by 50 runs, and allowed about 40 less. In other words, Boston is a significantly better team, and the Yankees’ division win was a fluke. In addition, the Red Sox enter the series with a rotation in much better shape, although this has perhaps been overstated a bit (Brown and Vazquez are cetainly capable of very good starts, although the latter has been bad enough for long enough to make you wonder.) The real Yankees timebomb is their bullpen; Rivera and Gordon are great, but have thrown enormous amounts of innings down the stretch. And that’s a problem, given that the Red Sox have better starting pitching, defense, and offense. RED SOX in 6.

CARDS/ASTROS The Cardinals are the better team, but marginally; I think the Astros’ after-Garner performance is closer to their true level that the .500 team they played like under Williams. Perhaps it’s just revlusion caused by the thought of two more rounds of LaRussa’s bullpen wankery, but I look at the Cardinals’ rotation and smell an upset. ASTROS IN 7.