Game Picks - Sunday: August 16, 2009

Yesterday was weird. First, this picker completely missed the Nationals' game. And that was a shame, because it would have been correct. And that one correct pick would have made a lot of difference. The other part of the equation was a rain out in Florida. That would have been another correct pick and the day would have looked a lot better.

But it's okay. It wasn't a great day, but it wasn't a bad one either. The Fan fell to third for the week at BallHype. Told you. The old nemesis, OrioFan8, is 28-25 for the week and has 23.1 points. The Fan is 41-26 and has 14 points. Something wrong with that picture, no? But the Fan wouldn't be a responsible picker if all he did was pick underdogs to get the points. It's a question of honor and value to the Fan's readers.

With that in mind, here are today's picks:

• The Tigers over the Royals: Not a great pitching match up here, but the Tigers need to beat the weak Royals to press their case for the division.
• The Mets over the Giants: Picking Pelfrey at home over the Giants and Sanchez.
• The Nationals over the Reds: Two good looking young pitchers in Lannon versus Lehr. If the pitching match up is even, go with the better hitting team.
• The Marlins over the Rockies: Volstad versus Cook. Again, it was thought that Cook was going to miss this start. So there is skeptics there.
• The Angels over the Orioles: The Angels should win big despite a rookie pitching. Guthrie is terrible again.
• The Bay Rays over the Blue Jays: Garza should pick up the win here.
• The Astros over the Brewers: The Brewers are trying to put a run together, but it's a bit late for that. The Cardinals are not going to be caught.
• The Rangers over the Red Sox: Not feeling for the Red Sox with Tazawa pitching.
• The Indians over the Twins: Did you notice the Fan went against his instincts yesterday and finally got a Twins' game right? Can we make it two in a row?
• The Cardinals over the Padres: Richard looks good but Holliday has come to life and is earning a nice fat payday.
• The Pirates over the Cubs: Ohlendorf reminds the Fan of those days long ago in Strat-O-Matic baseball when the Fan would ride one obscure pitcher all the way to a pennant.
• The White Sox over the Athletics: Danks has been shaky lately, but Cahill has been shakier.
• The Dodgers over the Diamondbacks: The Dodgers had their hearts broken in the ninth yesterday. They bounce back today.
• The Mariners over the Yankees: Chamberlain is listed as the Yankees' starting pitcher, but he's been given the week off (or so the Fan read). That means a spot start by somebody frightening.
• The Rockies over the Marlins: The second game of the day/night double header (hate those).
• The Braves over the Phillies: Great match up of Happ versus Vazquez. Going with Vazquez.

Yesterday: 7-6
Week: 53-39
Month: 104-97