More postseason predictions and commentary

Proving that I don't know when to quit, here's my latest playoff prediction:

A's over Cardinals in the World Series.

On the bright side, my random predictions were pretty good:
1) Alex Rodriguez was no good, most notably striking out on three pitches with the bases loaded and two out, in a moment that ended up having some affect on the Yankees' postseason failure (which is not to say that there weren't plenty of other problems; however, a hit right there could have changed the whole series). In his postseason career, he is 0-16 with runners in scoring position and two outs, which is the record for most at-bats without a hit in such situations. He did have a single in the first game, but I think his error in the fourth game cancels that out (on the tele, there was some debate over whether Rodriguez or Sheffield deserved the error; one of the announcers carried a rather strong opinion that it should go against Sheffield, and, while I agree that a better first baseman almost certainly would have made that play, I contend that Rodriguez, having not cleanly fielded the ball, and having made a bad throw, earned the error).
2) Trevor Hoffman did not blow a save, but I was expecting a few more oppurtunities when I made that prediction (being that I was predicting the Padres to reach the World Series).
3) Boof Bnoser had a good outing, but I wouldn't really qualify it as "excellent" -- still, it was better than some of his detractors predicted.
4) Neither Sheffield nor Giambi were impressive, and Melky Cabrera did end up with some playing time, but failed to produce (though, with only having three at-bats, it was a much smaller sample size for him).
5) Piazza was 1-10, with no runs or RBI's, so perhaps their run had something to do with him, but this was a case of a good prediction of his performance, a bad prediction of the Padres' run, and wording that would seem to link the two.

Some interesting debate over the Yankees' future, mostly abuot whether Torre and Rodriguez will be back next year. Still deciding what I think on the matter, but I say what they need most is more pitching -- at least one more good starter, and one more quality arm in the bullpen. That's assuming they re-sign Mussina, who was their second-best starter this year. No more of these Pavano signings, they need a proven veteran who is not past his prime and does not have as his "proof" one fluke season. That neatly sums up the problems with too many of these big free agent pitcher signings.