THROWING KNIVES: WHO YA GOT?

by BD, Epic Carnival

Absolutely nothing on TV last night, thus I decided to watch Cavemen while I was waiting for Reaper to start. Horrible decision, I’d have been better off jumping online with NBA 2K8 and getting blown out by a 12-year old who’s already player 70 games since buying the game yesterday morning. Cavemen was pretty bad, all of the reviews were right on, it basically cast the Cavemen as black people and slightly edits all of the stereotypes. I won’t be watching it again and I won’t be surprised when its canceled in about a month or so. I watched some of Carpoolers after and it wasn’t terribly great, either. Reaper remains the only decent show on Tuesday night. At least the MLB playoffs kick off tonight or I’d probably punch a dog. Then again, I’ll be in class so it really make little difference. Anyhow, as promised today I’ll be rolling out an MLB preview. First though, as usual come eye candy and today it’s Abigail Clancy.

MLB Playoff Preview
The MLB is a probably the toughest to predict. No one thought the Cardinals had a prayer last season. Yet they managed to win the whole damn thing. Nobody thought the Tigers had a shot to knock off the Yankees after struggling down the stretch. Yet they managed to win the AL pennant with relative ease. Thus take nothing I say here as gospel it may all be proved wrong in about two weeks.

ALDS Indians V. Yankees
You may remember the Yankees were on fire heading into the playoffs last season before running into a dominant pitching staff and a quality offense. Imagine that! That’s exactly how things look this year. The only real difference is that the Yanks are the ones on the road and the Indians aren’t terribly dominant beyond their big two starters. Plus it seems as if the wild card team makes a run every season. For me this is the year that doesn’t happen. The Yanks are going home early as C.C. does his best Kenny Rogers and erases all of his past struggles against the Bronx Bombers.
Guess: Indians in 5

ALDS Red Sox V. Angels
If not for John Lackey’s unbelievable struggles at Fenway Park (1-5 7.09 ERA) this one might be more of a tossup. But, it looks like the Sox will advance relatively easily. The Angels #2 Kelvim Escobar has wore down considerably down the stretch and I doubt he’s going to suddenly regain his strength. Josh Beckett is a cy young contender and should win game #1 for the Sox and if needed I’d put all my money on him in game #5. Not to mention David Ortiz has finally caught fire hitting .404 in September. Toss in the Gary Mathews Jr. injury and I think you’ve got a quick one.
Guess: Red Sox in 3

NLDS Phillies V. Rockies
One of the best stories of the stretch run has to come to an end early as these two face off. I’ve been on both teams bandwagons for the last few weeks and I’ll be happy regardless of how this one plays out. Though, to be honest I think we’d all rather see the Rockies win the whole damn thing than anyone if our team isn’t playing. The difference is the pitching as we know both teams are going to hit. The Rockies #1 starter Jeff Francis had a horrible go of it in two starts against the Phillies this season (.465, 14 runs against). The Phillies best guy Cole Hamels has never faced the Rockies, and that’s an advantage in my opinion as it takes more than one at-bat to adjust to his devastating changeup.
Guess: Phillies in 4

NLDS Diamondbacks V. Cubs
The Cubs are playing at home for virtually the entire series despite the leagues best record as they travel as well as any team in the majors. The D’backs somehow managed the NL’s best record despite the worst batting average in the league and a negative scoring margin. It’s all about the bullpen (and Brandon Webb) in Arizona. That said, outside of Webb they don’t have much for starters and if their young players fail to hit they don’t have a prayer. The Cubs have been hitting the ball out of the yard at a far improved pace in September and if they come even close to that they’ll win the NL pennant with ease. I think Arizona manages to win game one behind Webb, but the CUbs will make sure he doesn’t get another start.
Guess: Cubs in 4

ALCS Indians V. Red Sox
This one is interesting as both offense’s are fantastic and the Indians can counter the Sox bullpen with Betancourt and Perez. The difference is in the rotation. Carmona would likely start this series as C.C. shuts the door in the ALDS. Carmona V. Beckett is a wash but after that the Red Sox have a worn down Dice-K and a less than overwhelming Schilling. I think it’s the starting rotation that makes the difference for Cleveland here as both teams put up plenty of runs when the ace’s aren’t on the mound.
Guess: Indians in 6

NLCS Phillies V. Cubs
As much as I’d like to say the Phillies are the slam dunk better team here, their not. Outside of Hamels their are major questions within the rotation and who’s to say the bullpen will maintain it’s stretch hot streak. The offense is fantastic and may be enough, but generally it’s the pitching that gets a team to the series. Just ask the Mets last season. Plus, as I said above no one can keep the Cubs in the ballpark right now and as long as that’s the case their tough to beat. I think Big Z and Lilly are just enough for the Cubbies to sneak into the series.
Guess: Cubs in 7

World Series Cubs V. Indians
This one one quite have the same box office appeal of a Cubs V. Red Sox or Yankees series but it could still be a fantastic matchup. The Cubs have probably the best #2 of all the NL teams in Ted Lilly to matchup against the Indians and Fausto Carmona. Both teams have plenty of offense and can put up runs via the long ball. The question is whether or not the Cubs could tame their demons and join the White Sox and Red Sox are break their long standing curse. I’m voting no as I think C.C. and Carmona along with Betancourt and Perez will be just too much for the Cubbies as their streak adds up to 100 years. It really is unfortunate though as a Tigers fan, but hey at least a Central team is winning it right?
Guess: Indians in 6

Interestingly I had the World Series penciled in as the Phillies and the Indians before I sat down and started looking over the numbers this morning. The biggest issue for the Indians is closer Joe Borowski, but much like Todd Jones last year I think he and his less than overwhelming stuff will be just good enough. The World Series MVP goes to Fausto Carmona, or maybe Travis Hafner who’s suddenly got it together down the stretch. What do you think? Will the Indians win it all? Or, will they fail to even reach the ALCS?

Willie Randolph Will Be Back
This isn’t really surprising, but I think it was a little ridiculous to have him twisting in the wind for a day if they were going to keep him.

Braves Won’t Re-Sign Andruw Jones
This is the right decision. Whatever team locks him up to the massive deal he’s looking for will regret it sooner than later.

Television
The Reaper was pretty amusing last night as Sam still isn’t all that excited about his new job as the Devil’s bounty hunter. Spending most of the episode trying to avoid what he has to do. Which was a lot like last week’s episode, though last week is was more centered on his shock that his parents sold his soul rather than his unwillingness to do his job. Sam’s also still sputtering quite a bit with regards to Andy, who clearly wants him, but he just won’t step up to the plate. Which may be for the best as he wants to keep her (and many others) in the dark about his new job. My big concern with this show is that it’ll become repetitive . The same concern I have about Chuck. It’s this that is probably the reason most of the stuff I watch is of the serialized variety.
Rating: 7.8/10

Nothing of note yesterday, so no scoreboard. Have a good little Wednesday.

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