Game Picks - Sunday: July 26, 2009

As Saturday baseball unfolded, it felt like a campy old Batman episode. Not the movies, those dark and serious takes on the comic book character were nothing like the television show of decades ago. As Batman and Robin took on various bad guys, text would fill the screen like: OOF! and POW! and WHAM! Those were yesterday's picks. And like most of Batman's' villains, the Fan was left in a heaped pile on the floor. Gone was the wonderful week. Gone was the lead at BallHype.com (now eighth). Gone was the feeling that the Fan started to know what he was doing.

That's the thing about baseball. You just never know what is going to happen. Who knew that the Yankees were going to give half their regulars the day off yesterday? Watching the game, it looked like a day off. There was no fire there at all until it was too late. And Girardi really blew it with his bullpen choice and how long he left Pettitte stay in there. For the Reds, Cueto again showed that he can't be consistent enough to harness his great stuff. The Mariners actually scored ten runs. The Mets scored nine. It was a bloodbath.

But life goes on. Perhaps Sunday will bring back the good feelings:

• The Yankees over the A's: The Yankees should win despite starting Mitre.
• The Bay Rays over the Blue Jays: Those poor Blue Jays.
• The Cardinals over the Phillies: Wellemeyer needs to pitch a decent game.
• The Nationals over the Padres: Lannon is pitching. The Nats winning yesterday was the final nail in the day's coffin.
• The Orioles over the Red Sox: It appears that the Jon Smoltz experiment is a wash.
• The Braves over the Brewers: The Brewers are resiliant, but so are the Braves. Lowe should beat Looper.
• The Mets over the Astros: What a match up! Livan versus Moehler! Harken back to the Fan's earlier post this week to figure this one out!
• The Rangers over the Royals: Millwood should beat Ponson. Why isn't Josh Hamilton hitting? Come on, Josh! Get going!
• The Cubs over the Reds: Alas, the Owings' bandwagon has a wheel fallen off.
• The Rockies over the Giants: Cook beats the Big Sadowski.
• The Angels over the Twins: It is official. The Fan has officially given up on the Twins.
• The Marlins over the Dodgers: The Fan has to be right about one of these games after picking them all wrong throughout the series.
• The Pirates over the Diamondbacks: Just because one of the bad teams has to win.
• The Indians over the Mariners: Oh sure, now the Indians play well!
• The Tigers over the White Sox: The Tigers get out the brooms to finish off the sweep.

Yesterday: 4-11 POW!
Week: 59-38
Month: 156-116