Recharging

Last night I went to bed at 9:30. I didn't wake up until almost 8 today. I'm just about back to normal now.

And the Cardinals are coming to Fenway tomorrow night. Should be good. Even though they won the most games of anybody this year, I fear them less than I feared the Astros - The Cardinals starters are decent, not great (as opposed to Houston, with the Clemens Factor), and outside of Pujols, their offense isn't spectacular. They're just a good, solid, fundamentally sound team who got to beat up on a lot of NL weakness this year. Edmonds and Rolen have good power, too, but they are less dangerous than Pujols. Their best starter is Jeff Suppan, who couldn't even make the Sox postseason roster last year and was released after the season.

The two key question marks for Boston: First, how will Wakefield perform in Game 1 tomorrow, after dazzling the Yankees for three innings his last time out? And second, will letting Ortiz play first in the away games hurt them more than it helps? On the other hand, can the Cardinals overcome what is, on paper, a much more potent attack offensively from Boston, and can their starters go deep into the games to minimize the bullpen exposure?

Whatever - right now I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that the Red Sox take it in 6. And the Yankees will start referring to their plight as the Curse of Alex Rodriguez.