Belated World Series Preview

This World Series will be a refreshing date with baseball where I don't actually care who wins. It's markedly more fun to watch baseball when you don't hate either team playing. Here's what I think is going to happen in Games 2-7, after a brief discussion of tonight's 3-2 Philadelphia victory.

Phillies 3, Rays 2

Scott Kazmir made one bad pitch to Chase Utley in the first inning and BJ Upton hit into a pair of rally killing double plays, one with the bases loaded. That's really all you need to know about this game. Cole Hamels is a good pitcher, but not great, and got out of jams with the aforementioned Upton double plays and a weird strike zone.

This game should concern Phillies fans. Why? Sure, they won, but they only scratched out 3 runs against Tampa Bay's worst starter this postseason. Shields, Garza, and Sonnanstine are all more reliable than former staff ace Kaz, and the Phillies don't have a single starter other than Hamels who doesn't, well, suck. Joe Blanton is absolute crap, and the Rays have seen him before while he was with Oakland. Jaime Moyer would not be a major league starter in the American League at this point in his career. Brett Myers is a below-league average pitcher who got rocked by the Dodgers in his last start.

The Rays obviously aren't happy about tonight's loss, but I have a hard time seeing Philly win any game not started by Whole Camels-sorry, Cole Hamels. Their offense is mediocre with a visibly struggling Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins has done absolutely nothing in the postseason thus far.

Rays in 6.

Also, let it be noted that umpires have no idea how to call a balk. At all. Carlos Pena was erased on a pickoff play that was clearly a balk, as Hamels dropped his foot three-fourths of the way towards home and threw to first. We need a line on the mound.