Poor Jim Mashek has been a fan of the New York Yankees since the days he was a kid skipping school to watch Babe Ruth crack home runs during the 1920s.
So I was shocked to see Jimmy take a clean sweep across his desk to push his classic Yankees bobble-head dolls like Mickey Mantle, Carl Pavano, Kevin Brown, Chuck Knoblauch and Hideki Irabu into the trash earlier this week.
He's replaced them with Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, a red-faced Larry Bowa and Mitch Williams. Mashek has officially jumped on the Philadelphia Phillies bandwagon just like he dove headfirst onto the Sarah Palin train.
Guess what? By the end of the World Series, the fickle Philly fans will turn on the Phillies just as fast as they turned on Santa Claus.
The Tampa Bay Rays will win the World Series in six games.
What wins championships? Pitching. What's the Rays' strength? Pitching.
The Rays aren't this Cinderella story like the Colorado Rockies where they had no pitching. Ask the Boston Red Sox.
I'll take Scott Kazmir and James Shields over Cole Hamels and a slew of rag arms. There's another player Masscheck is rather familiar with who will be lurking in the Tampa Bay bullpen and may be the best pitcher on either roster.
Former Vanderbilt lefty David Price will be the difference as the Rays' likely closer. Would you trust the Phillies' Brad Lidge? I was covering Game 5 of the 2005 National League championship series in Houston when Lidge collapsed to the ground after Albert Pujols hit a home run that landed in San Antonio.
And sure Jimmy Boy will yap about Rollins, Utley and Ryan Howard being the more potent lineup. He'll be wrong, though, as the Rays' B.J. Upton has been the hottest hitter in all of the postseason. I'll take my chances with Upton, Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena.
Philadelphia is known as a pro sports town full of losers. The city hasn't won a championship in any form or fashion since the 76ers won the NBA crown in 1983.
Tampa isn't exactly known as a sports capital, but the town's other two professional teams have won championships this decade as the Buccaneers and Lightning both own titles.
The Rays will make it 3-for-3 for the Tampa Bay area, and this will give me back my Buttin' Heads dominance after Mazzczech's fluke win the last time we battled. I guess that's what I get for taking the Cubs, sports' eternal loser.
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