poop picks: ALCS, NLCS, and world series

here at poop on boozer, we're all about duking it out, especially when it comes to our (supposed) sports knowledge. so as we prepare for the four remaining baseball teams to entertain us over the next few weeks, enjoy our best guesses as to who's going to come out on top this fall.

and remember: there's only one october!

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K.C.R.

ALCS: Boston fans wanted this matchup. They're pissed. The Red Sox Nation just took care of its biggest nemesis this season after knocking off the league best Angels, 3-1. Next on their list? Tropicana Field. Not the Rays - just the field. The Sox went 1-8 at the Trop this year, which played a big factor in their losing the season series 10-8, to the Rays. Sox fans would like nothing more than to shut up the Tampa Bay faithful and prove once and for all that the Rays don't really belong. After watching what they did to the Angels, I don't think they'll have a problem, personally. Red Sox in 5.

NLCS: Good to see the Dodgers make a splash after basically 20 years of futility. Manny-mania exists in Dodgerville, and thank goodness, cause they needed something. The Philly lineup is potent with Howard, Utley, and Rollins, but the prospect of another major sports meeting between LA and Boston is just too much for the networks to pass up (did I say that?). Dodgers in 6.

WORLD SERIES: As much as I hate to admit it, the Sox are too powerful and too strong. Manny will be booed heavily in his return to Fenway, and he'll resume his place in left field in front of the Green Monster. I'd be very surprised if his trip back to Boston doesn't include a stop to pee in the bathroom inside the Green Monster. That said, the series will go back and forth, before the Red Sox ultimately take control and repeat as World Champions. Red Sox in 6.

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D.R.W.

ALCS: If the 2008 season had gone on for any longer, say another month, you would have eventually seen the Boston Red Sox in first place. They were closing the gap in the AL East, and theoretically may have been able to do it inside of 162 games without injuries to the heart of their lineup (Jason Bay can indeed replace Manny Ramirez, but not with Mark Kotsay hitting behind him). Of course, as a counter to that, even when the Sox were hot and the Rays were not, Tampa won those crucial head-to-head matchups down the stretch, and the middle of the Sox lineup is STILL hurting, not to mention Beckett's oblique. It's a lot to sift through, but I think it comes down to this: if Beckett's healthy, the Beckett-Lester combo will win the Sox the series. If not, Tampa's knack for timely hitting will take it. Red Sox in 7.

NLCS: The Dodgers are reminding me a lot of the 2007 Rockies lately. Their late hot streak allowed them to enter the playoffs with all the momentum in the world, which masked the fact that they had been quite a mediocre team all season. Of course, the cliche is true: the playoffs are in many ways a crapshoot, and baseball is a sport where the hot team can always beat the better team (you may want to ask John Lackey about that - just don't stand within grabbing distance when you ask him). So why shouldn't the Dodgers beat the Phillies? The red-hot 2007 Rockies beat all NL comers, and they didn't even have midseason acquisition Manny Ramirez (who, by the way, may knock Cole Hamels down a couple of pegs). Dodgers in 5.

WORLD SERIES: I could devote an entire post to how awesome this series would be (and I will, if it happens), but for now, I'll try to contain myself to how I think it will go. If the Dodgers really were the Rockies, it would be a sweep to end all sweeps and everyone would go into the long winter months hating the Red Sox that much more. But they're not. The Rockies, in my opinion, were blown out of the water by the Sox last fall because the NL's best just couldn't measure up to the AL's best. The Dodgers, however, actually have the AL's best, and he used to wear a Red Sox uniform. And that leads me to ask: how many World Series wins is Manny Ramirez worth? It may very well be one or two, which is remarkable for a single player. But it's not four. And it would have to be, because I believe the Red Sox would sweep the Dodgers without him. With him? Red Sox in 5.

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K.L.

ALCS: there were only three teams that were really fun to watch this year in the AL (and might i say in baseball?), and two of them are in this matchup (nice knowing you, los angeles, anaheim, california, or whatever you plan to be next). with the rally monkey (thankfully) out of the picture, the AL east's best will fight to the finish in a pennant battle that has to have a-rod choking on his own vomit. injuries have been the name of the game for boston in the fall, and the health of beckett and drew will have a significant impact on the series. that said, theo did his best to fill those gaps, and with options like casey, kotsay, and crisp to plug holes here and there, the red sox should be set on offense. so it comes down to the pitching matchups. matsuzaka wins game 1, beckett goes 4-5 innings and gets a no-decision (to go with a paul byrd loss) in game 2, lester takes game 3, wakefield loses game 4, but matsuzaka comes back with a win in game 5, and lester (on short rest) and papelbon get the job done before the series can be stretched to seven. as much as i hate to agree with both d.r.w. and k.c.r, the arms don't lie. Red Sox in 6.

NLCS: was manny ramirez really hurt in boston? can players really put up his kind of numbers without performance enhancement? these are all the interesting questions that will be completely irrelevant when the phillies and the dodgers take the field. these two teams had impressive runs in the division series, although the phillies did have a blip loss to the brewers in game 3 that forced them into some extra action. what city of brotherly love fans can feel good about, however, is that pat burrell has his swing back. between him, howard, and utley, the middle of the philadelphia lineup is just scary. that's not even counting players like jimmy rollins and shane victorino. i don't care how good manny is - the phillies are on fire at the right time, to the point where they pretty much have the wild card fervor about them. (and we all know that wild cards have been far from shabby in the past decade.) hamels and blanton are ballers, moyer looks young again, and lidge - though a little shaky - is still perfect. as good as lowe, kuroda, and billingsley can be, they lost 31 games between them for a reason. myers drops game 2 at home, but the phillies surprise most of the sports world (and k.c.r. and d.r.w.) by finally getting back to the world series. Phillies in 5.

WORLD SERIES: red sox-phillies? meh. interesting, but i've seen better. you would think this would be a close series, but if we've learned anything from the past four years, when a team with the word "sox" in its name makes the playoffs, a sweep is in the making. who am i to bet against a 100% win percentage for the red and white sox in the final round since 2004? Red Sox in 4.