A tough Jiminez will lead off for the Rockies........              And Jamarcus showed just how bad a qb could be  Photo by Jeff Zelevansky-Getty Images                                    Photo by  Bob Levey - Getty  Images

The playoffs in both leagues start today without the Mets. Groan. I can’t help but wonder whether they could have taken the measure of the Phils or the Dodgers, Cards or Rockies, if they had remained healthy. Maybe, who knows, who’ll ever know?

These NL teams are really stacked though. It would have been tough. I think the Cards are the strongest overall with a powerful lineup and pitching to die for, especially in a five-game series with Carpenter and Wainwright sporting ERA’s of 2.24 and 2.76 respectively. L.A.’s Wolf was just 11-7 with a 3.23 ERA. Kershaw had a great 2.79 ERA but was just 8-8.

Then there’s Pujols and Holliday and a bunch of .300 hitters facing a nice lineup but not an exceptional one, not unless Manny Ramirez should suddenly catch fire. And that’s just not that likely.

In the other series, the Phillies against the Rockies, I know everybody likes the defending champion Phillies, but not me. Even if you forget about the Brad Lidge closer failures, their lineup just hasn’t performed as they did last year, when magic seemed to bloom out of their butts. They may wind up prevailing, with Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels providing a powerful 1-2 punch, but I just don’t think it’s their year.

The Rockies aren’t that impressive either really but were hotter for sure down the stretch and I like their Tulowitzki, Helton and Hawpe in the middle. The Rocks have Ubaldo Jiminez and Jorge De La Rosa too, and possess a better closer in Huston Street. Although it’s tough to pick against the World Champs, they just haven’t clicked as has that hot Denver team. Besides, my nephew likes them and he’s pretty lucky.

Over in the American League, the Yanks are just loaded. It seems almost ridiculous to even go through any analysis. They kill the Twins all the time too. So kiss it goodbye, Minnesota, maybe you should have picked up Favre. They’ll be lucky to take one game.

The other AL matchup should be a classic and I don’t even want to pick a winner as I like both teams. The Red Sox have dominated in their matchups in the past. But it’ll be a new series and, if Lester and Beckett should falter, the Angels have a shot. I love their lineup with real battlers like Figgins and Abreu at the top.

The Yanks can take everybody in either league except for maybe the Angels. So naturally I’m hoping the Angels can make it through Boston. If Figgins and the rest of the speed they’ve got can get on base, they’ll be murderous on either Varitek or Victor Martinez to stop.

So I’m hoping for Rockies-Cards and Angels-Yanks. I have to think the Cards can take the Rockies and hope for a miracle that the Angels will take the Yanks. Actually, come to think of it, maybe it would be pretty neat for the Yanks to get by. Then I can root against them in the World Series once again.

The Cards would have a shot against anybody.

Okay, that’s enough baseball for now. It’s high time to pick on the Jets. No, not really. It’s hard not to like Sanchez and he had a rough, rough day in New Orleans. The offensive line of the Jets took some hits this week and then the Jets picked up Braylon Edwards for Chansi Stuckey and some picks.

I sure hope it’ll be one of those trades that benefit both parties but Edwards can’t catch, a sure-fire weakness in a wideout. I see lots of dropped balls in their future. He sure does get open though.

Then Eli getting hurt in the Chiefs game was decidedly inconvenient. That injury sounds as if it’ll be hanging around for some time too. We have to hope it doesn’t affect Eli’s accuracy. He was having one of his better years in that respect, or is it just that his receivers are better at finding spaces and understanding the offense?

It’d be tough to get on Coughlin’s charges for anything. They didn’t miss a beat against the Chiefs, a game I expected them to win but not cover the spread. I thought they’d let down. They didn’t. With Steve Smith and Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks to throw to, you have to wonder if they just might run the table.

They seem as loaded as the Yankees are in baseball. There just aren’t any weaknesses. Of course, I said that about the Mets early this year before every Met of any consequence got hurt. I can only hope it won’t happen to the Giants. Eli’s going down, even for a little time, is not a good sign.

One vaguely upsetting thing in the NFL going forward is the weakness, especially defensively, in at least ten teams. The Chargers are one of those teams for sure after seeing their Sunday night exhibition against the Steelers, who became a great running team seemingly overnight. Then we got to witness a Packers team on Monday that couldn’t block and couldn’t rush the passer. That the passer was my least favorite person in the entire world did not make for a pleasant night, I assure you.

It was good to see that Favre is still a hot dog though, and still looks out for his interests more so than for his team’s. His stupid long pass attempt down the sideline kept Green Bay in the game, and a better team may have been able to capitalize on the opportunity.

Tampa Bay and Washington are both horrible though, Tampa on the defense and the Skins on offense. The Bills once again seem pathetic. The Rams got slaughtered by the 49ers. The Raiders are horrible under a fat and lousy Jamarcus Russell. There’s hope for the Browns as they showed against the tough Bengals but can Mangini really be expected to turn that club around?

Well, it’s just Week Five and hopefully, things only get better.

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