Week Four Picks, Reviewed, plus MLB Playoffs

Last Sunday was one of those days that gamblers dread. I'd felt great about my picks, fantastic, to tell the truth, and in hindsight, probably a little too good. All week I'd been entertaining visions of a 10-4, maybe even 11-3, hitting all my over/unders, riding off into the sunset on a majestic steed, a buxom lass in tow. Indeed. Ho Ho. It was not meant to be. The gambling gods descended from on high, and like King Herod, an angel of justice smote me down in my place. The Hubris! The first week of games I could actually sit down and watch like a man, on a couch with salty snacks and a refreshing beverage, started out innocently enough. San Diego-Baltimore was the first game, a game I felt great about, my dark horse Super Bowl pick, San Diego, having been freshly coronated by the national media with Bill Simmons ranking them #1 in his last column. The game started well, San Diego defiantly marching down the field against Baltimore on their first drive, Phillip Rivers throwing a long touchdown pass to cap it off. The route was on, or so it appeared. Baltimore managed to hang around for the rest of the half, and then it happened. Marty Schottenheimer reared his overly-conversative play-calling head. Suddenly San Diego couldn't move the ball, and Baltimore was in the game. Around the time of the intentional safety/near botched punt debacle, the game became officially frightening. The final Baltimore drive was inevitable, a seemingly washed-up Steve McNair leading the Ravens down the field for six points with mechanical efficiency.

My morning was already ruined. New Orleans was hanging in with Carolina, Miami was predictably blowing it against Houston, and the indians were descending upon the Arizona wagontrain with blood in their eyes, but I couldn't catch a break otherwise. Kansas City was back to looking like a playoff team, Minnesota couldn't score on Buffalo, Dallas was showing no ill effects from the T.O. suicide watch, and the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS were matching Indy blow for blow.

By the afternoon slate, I was in the grip of a full-blown panic attack. What if I never picked another game correctly? The Pats were blowing out Cincy, Oakland had inexplicably put up three first-half touchdowns (the Madness!) against Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis were in a shoot-out (what happened to the Rams D?), and Washington had returned to their status as a very dangerous team to gamble against with their renewed ability to get Santana Moss the ball in space.

Thankfully, the gods offered me a reprieve. Cleveland came back, a late touchdown pass gave St. Louis the win by a TD. It would be, at least, a salvagable week. With the Sunday night and Monday night games still to go, I even entertained thoughts of going .500. Ha. Don't get too cocky. The Hawks laid down for the Bears, while the Eagles covered, but Green Bay couldn't score in the second-half to hit the over. So that's how it all broke down. 6-8 on the week, now 31-28-1 overall. 1-3 on my best bets (Good God), 1-3 on my over/unders. Now 3-5 on the BB's and 4-4 on over/unders. I keep saying it could of been worse. Hopefully this week is better. Haven't had a chance to look at the lines for this week, distracted by school and playoff baseball. Picks'll be up tomorrow afternoon or Friday early.

As to the MLB playoffs: I started a post on them, a detailed breakdown of each playoff series. Seriously, it would've ran 10,000+ words, easily, and been obsolete within the week. So I scrapped it, and I'll just throw my predictions onto this.

I love the A's this year. I don't think anyone has the combo of starting pitching and defense to beat them. I think the Twins would be the toughest team to compete with if Francisco Liriano, but alas, it may be quite awhile before we see Johan and Liriano together at full strength. I don't exaggerate when I say they could be the greatest starting pitcher combination ever. Better than Koufax-Drysdale, better than the Big Unit and Schilling, or at least on par. I don't like the Yankees pitching, I think Detroit peaked too early, and their pitching will collapse against the Yankees. I think Oakland dispatches the Yankees with alarming efficiency, leading to Steinbrenner blowing up the team in the offseason. In the National League, I think the Mets beat the Dodgers, even with the Mets terrible pitching situation, and the Padres beat the Cardinals, even with the 1-0 deficit. Beyond Carpenter, the Cardinals might have the worst playoff rotation we've seen in quite some time. I think the Mets lack of pitching catches up to them in the NLCS, and the World Series features the A's and the Padres. The east coast will complain that all the games start after its bedtime. I think the A's win it all, as Billy Beane's shit will finally work in the playoffs.

That is all.