NLCS PREVIEW AND PREDICTION

Despite watching little baseball the past month I somehow managed to pick all 4 of the division series winners correctly. I'm not going to lie, when you are this fucking good at picking baseball games it should be noted that a baseball mind as brilliant as mine should be hired to at least be a bullpen coach or at the very least a mid level assistant GM position. Seriously, I got the time. Call me.

Now let's take a look at the National League Championship series which starts tonight between the Man Ram led Dodgers traveling to Philly to take on the Phightin Phils. The Dodgers come in red hot after sweeping the Chicago Scrubs and have the swagger and veteran leadership to make this series against the Phillies a really short one. In Game 1 we have postseason veteran and proven winner Derek Lowe going against Cole Hamels, no chump himself. The Phillies crowd will be fat, loud, and boisterous. Expect many expletives thrown at Manny even when they aren't coming from Tim McCarver's stupid mouth. As much as I like the way Hamels is pitching right now I got to take the Dodgers in Game 1. Manager Joe Torre has the team clicking and focused and a large part of that is the addition of SS Rafael Furcal to the leadoff spot. The Dodgers will take game 1 tonight and should take game 2 with Chad Billingsley out dueling Brett "Smack my bit--" Myers.

The series will then go to Hollywood with the Phillies in a deep 0-2 hole. Their hitting will start to pick up a little bit against Hiroki Kuroda but it won't be enough as the Dodgers will thrive off of Jamie Moyer's slow pitches and will take a 3-0 series lead. The Phillies, ever resilient, will come back and avoid the sweep in game 4 by unloading their bats against future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. It will be too little, too late though as the Dodgers behind some stellar starting pitching and great top of the order hitting will beat the Phillies in 5 games.

Philly fans can then redirect their anger and angst at Donovan McNabb for the next two months.

Pictures courtesy of COED Magazine