Manny's Playoff Picks

After my compadre the big Despiser gave us his picks, I'd like to offer mine:

YANKS v. TWINS: Much as I hate the Yankees, I don't see anyone on the Twins overpowering them, save Johan Santana. So even with the Twins winning both Santana games, I see the Yanks taking this one in 5. They'll probably have a couple of come-from-behind wins (which the Yankee fans will get ecstatic over), but that's only because their starting pitching is so putrid.
Besides, it's more fun when the Red Sox beat the Yanks (see below).
Yankees in 5.

As for the other series:
The Red Sox will eke it out over the Angels in 5. I think the Sox are slightly better both in starting pitching and offensively.
The Astros should get rid of the Braves quickly. After all, these are the Braves we're talking about, the greatest regular-season team of the last decade, but always October failures. Besides, I like Clem and Oswalt over Wright and Hampton. And the Killer B's give Houston an edge. Astros in 3.
The Cards should make short work of the Dodgers. Both teams have pretty bad starters, but the Cards offense is much better than the Dodgers, in spite of Beltre and Finley.
Cards in 4.

ALCS:
Here's where it gets fun. Last year, the Yanks lost game 1, and, in the words of Fred Hickman, Andy Pettitte stopped the bleeding in Game 2. This year, no Pettitte. When the Yankees signed Jon Leiber just for the hell of it before last winter, who woulda thought the guy would be the Yanks' #2 playoff starter less than two years later? Unbelievable how the mighty have fallen. I'll give the Yanks one win in this series (probably against Pedro, a game that'll have a million clips from the 8th inning of last year's game 7-- maybe I'll just listen on radio), but Schilling should stop 'em like in '01 and I think Arroyo and Wakefield will be able to stave them off.
The lack of pitching is gonna doom the Yankees. Manny and Ortiz should feast off the stinkers.
There's gonna be a brawl in this one. After Zimmer and Sturtze, the moron this time? I'll go with Kevin Brown. He'll probably get injured accidentally punching himself or something. And Torre will claim that Arroyo hit his guy intentionally, while the Yankee hurler just let the ball slip out. Crybaby.
Red Sox in 5.

NLCS: With the Astros making the NLCS for the first time since the Mike Scott era, it should be a fun one. Two teams with a pretty packed offense and decent pitching. I've gotta give an edge to Houston for having two big guns in Clem and Oswalt, but the Cards' offense trumps the 'Stros. Not to mention their gold-glove defense.
In another LCS thriller, I've got the Cards in 7.

World Series: This is the year. No more curse. In the all-red World Series, the Red Sox time has come. Led by second-time Series MVP Curt Schilling, the Sox will shut down the Cards' offensive juggernaut. No more Yankee fan losers with "1918" t-shirts.
Red Sox in 6.