Game Picks - Thursday: June 18, 2009

Went to bed last night with thoughts swirling about Sammy Sosa, Mel Hall and the Yankees losing to the Nationals. Not actually sure which is the worst tragedy there. Just kidding. Hall, who will be remembered for his sweet swing peppering the Yankee Stadium right field porch, threw his life away for some lascivious thoughts for girls he shouldn't have had those thoughts for. Why would a guy who has everything and could buy women of most any legal age, risk doing anything that would throw that cushy life away? He deserves the 60 years he got. And Sammy Sosa, we all knew. First, he was from the Dominican Republic. Second, he went from this skinny kid in Texas to this behemoth in Chicago. Third, he hit 60 or more homers three years for crying out loud and fourth, his career took a quick nose dive. We all knew. Now we just know more officially. Joe Posnanski has a great piece about the news by the way. But then doesn't he always?

And then there were the games last night. Former Yankee, Nick Johnson, had the big hit and Lannon, the best of the Nats pitchers, sent the Yanks four games back of the Red Sox. The Yanks would be tied with the Red Sox if they just played .500 against them instead of going zero for the season. Lincecum lost last night because of a passed ball. How many times does that happen? The Fan finally used his head instead of his heart and picked against Micah Owings and he goes out and pitches a gem AND hits a three run homer. The Diamondbacks, who probably haven't scored 12 runs in June, scored that many last night against the Royals. And those were just the logical losses on the Fan's scorecard. Ha!

But today is the first day of vacation. The Fan heads to Florida today for a much needed rest. It's been a really rough year in this household. People look at us and say, "Florida...in the summer? What are you crazy?" Well, no. First, the Fan's wife teaches and we can't get away until after school ends. Secondly, the Fan's mom lives in a middle class condo down there and there's always a breeze by the pool. So we enjoy it very much. The Fan doesn't expect to miss any days posting, but you never know. It might be spottier than usual.

Here are today's picks:

• The Braves over the Reds: This gave features two great pitching prospects in Hanson versus Maloney. Let's go with Hanson.
• The Phillies over the Blue Jays: Like Blanton over Mills in this one. Vernon Wells got a hit last night, which was newsworthy in a sort of pathetic way.
• The Yankees over the Nationals: Chamberlain should have a good night.
• The Pirates over the Twins: The Twins are the most difficult team in the world to predict. So we'll go with Zack Duke.
• The Cubs over the White Sox: The Cubs have the advantage of Zambrano hitting over Floyd. Never mind the pitching. Saw a stat the other day that Zambrano has more homers in his last 300 at bats than David Ortiz has in his last 300 at bats.
• The Rockies over the Bay Rays: Interesting matchup of Garza versus Jiminez. If Jiminez is dominant, the Rockies should win.
• The Padres over the Mariners: Brandon Morrow is pitching for the Mariners in his first start of the year. That's Rule #4 and a lock even without knowing that the Mariners have really screwed him around this year.
• The Orioles over the Mets: Weiters hit his first homer and got his first RBIs last night. Congrats, kid. Have fun against Livan.
• The Red Sox over the Marlins: The Red Sox might never lose another game this year. They are that good.
• The Rangers over the Astros: Brandon is Backe and it might not be pretty.
• The Royals over the Diamondbacks: Hochever over Haren? What? Well, it could happen if Olivo doesn't make another error. How can a catcher make that many errors?
• The Tigers over the Cardinals: Like Porcello over Pineiro, who has been like a pinata lately.
• Oakland over the Dodgers: Have a hunch Mazzero will stifle the Dodgers.

It's VACATION TIME!

Yesterday: 6-9
Week: 25-21
Month: 99-102