This is killing me, and I have no idea how or why it happened and I know that the 12-year-old version of me would kick my ass for even suggesting this, but I’m rooting for the Yankees over the Angels.

I’ve never been a hardcore Yankee-hating Mets fan because it never really made sense to me. They’re not in direct competition, after all. At least not on the field.

Normally I root against them, — just because — but for a variety of reasons (1988 included) I can’t in good conscience root for a Mike Scioscia-coached team.

I know that, for a lot of Mets fans, the most irritating thing about the Yankees is not the team itself so much as the team’s entitled and obnoxious fans. But it so happens that the small sample of Yankees fans I deal with on a regular basis are reasonable, gracious people and not at all like the type wont to start fights in the bleachers with anyone wearing the wrong color hat.

Those reasonable Yankees fans include Alex Belth and Cliff Corcoran, who invited me onto the Bronx Banter Breakdown to help preview the series: