World Series thoughts

So the 162 game season has come to an end, 8 playoff teams have been cut to 2 after 2 rounds and we are left with the Colorado Rockies vs. the Boston Red Sox. Wow. Who would have predicted that one in March. (Not SI - those idiots had Dodgers v. Angels! thanks for the JINX!) Since I improved on my 0% prediction rate in round 1 to a whopping 50% after the Championship Series, that must mean I am due to nail this pick. I am going to go against the grain and possibly sanity and pick the Rockies to continue shocking the world. Here's why:

1. The DH/Defense issue. The old adage is that pitching and defense wins championships and this will never be more important. The Rockies are by far the best defensive team in baseball. The statistics bear this out as COL finished with one of the highest fielding percentages ever. Why is this important? Coors Field is the most spacious OF in baseball. You have to be on your "A" game with decent speed to cover all that area. Who does Boston start in LF? Yeah, Manny Ramirez, next to Barry Bonds, one of the worst and laziest fielding players EVER. JD Drew will either be in RF or CF depending on Boston's choice for 1B (Big Papi or Youk). If the Sox start Ortiz at 1B, they lose defense there. If they stick Youk in RF and move Drew to CF, they'll have two terrible corner OFs. Boston's best bet is to leave Drew in RF and go with the speedsters in Crisp and Ellsbury in CF and then rotate the two hitters at 1B and pinch hitter.

2. Rockies are not scared of Fenway. They played 3 interleague games in Boston this year and guess what happened? Colorado won 2 of 3 there! They lost 2-1 but then won 12-2 and 7-1. There will not be anything to intimidate Colorado outside of the great Sox fan support but no fans are easier to take out of a game than Boston fans. They choked in game 2 vs. the Indians and are notorious for packing up and fearing the worst when their backs are against the wall.

3. Rockies can hit on the road. True the Rockies never play as well and hit as much on the road as at home but the difference here is the Boston is an EXTREME hitters park as well. Its not like they are going from Colorado to Detroit. The Rockies bats will not be silent in Boston and adding the DH will only benefit them as they have some pretty skilled hitters on the bench.

4. The Rockies pitching is not as bad as it used to be. Yes their ace is Jeff Francis who most people don't know but their ace to start the year was Aaron Cook who's now set for game 4. Their 2 rookies (Jimenez and Morales) have been electric and Fogg has been steady and gets the game to the bullpen who has been lights out. Fuentes and Corpas are dominant in the late innings and can stop the Sox bats when they have a lead. Boston on the other hand has Beckett (who is great!), Schilling who will gut it out and then what? Dice K? He has not been as great as advertised, has tired a lot in the 2nd half and looks beatable. And the Boston bullpen, outside of Papelbon, they are all hittable. Gagne is a gas can and they can't use him, can they? The rest can be decent but can also stink. Also, Boston has no 4th starter as they left Wakefield off the roster. I can see Beckett winning 2 again but if he doesn't, this is over in 5 games.

5. The rest. Some people wonder if the 8 or 9 days off will hurt Colorado because of their hot streak but I think they will be fine. They are not a team of sluggers that need to stay in the zone but rather a team of solid hitters that play fundamental baseball and run the bases well so the rest will just help them get their legs back under them.

6. Finally, the altitude. It will almost be a home field advantage for COL if they can take 1 of 2 in Boston. The Boston players do not strike you as fine tuned, in great shape, athletes, that will be able to handle the exhaustion one feels playing at that altitude. Whereas Colorado is used to it, plays their all the time and has better conditioned players (with the rest helping here too).

If Colorado can get one to start in Boston, then the Rockies will win in 5. If it goes 7 though, I don't see how the Red Sox lose.......