Game Picks - Saturday: April 24, 2010

Darn that West Coast! This picker was tired last night and went to bed early (around 10) and when the alarm clock was set, the picks to that point were 8-2 and this picker went to sleep with a smile on his face. Imagine the surprise to wake up in the morning to see that all four left coast picks went sour while the Fan was sleeping! Joba jobbed the Yankees. Lincecum didn't have his best stuff but was still good enough to increase his record to 4-0. The Diamondbacks easily took care of Hamels and the Phillies and picking against Duchscherer and the Athletics was a particularly bad mistake.

Speaking of that mistake, the Indians couldn't have played a worse game. How so? They made three errors that accounted for five unearned runs, they hit into five double plays and they totally whiffed on offense. Yeah, that's a bad game. Oh yeah, Choo got picked off of first too. Ouch.

It's a good thing the Fan did go to bed, because there might have been a coronary watching the games going on. Texas did not start Feldman as expected because of the flu, so Harden started early and lasted 4.1 innings. But the Rangers held a pretty comfortable lead by 10 P.M. Little did the sleeping Fan know that Feliz would blow the save but still would get the win when Ni of the Tigers gave up his own run. By the way, the Fan may be childish, but every time he sees Ni's name in the box score, he audibly uses this quick, high pitched voice that sounds more like a sound effect and says, "NNNee.." Yeah, silly.

And that game wasn't the only one that would have been a nail-biter. The Red Sox bullpen almost blew their game as did the White Sox bullpen. In the White Sox game, Floyd was cruising along until the seventh inning and loaded the bases. Ozzie brought in J. J. Putz (which rhymes with Nuts) who promptly served up a grand slam to Lopez of all people. Nice. But the White Sox still won.

So anyway, it was a weird night in the good old MLB. The Fan should feel fortunate to have been slighly over .500. There was one rainout as the Marlins - Rockies game was postponed. With a blown mind and a hot cup of coffee, what do the Saturday games look like?

• The Dodgers over the Nationals: This is an incredibly hard game to predict. The Dodgers look moribund and now Manny is on the DL. But Kershaw is pitching. The Nationals are over .500 (surprise!) and look pretty darn good, but Zimmerman is hurting. What to do??
• The Padres over the Reds: Cueto was supposed to pitch yesterday according to the schedule the Fan looked at. But Arroyo pitched and got clobbered. Thanks for ruining THAT pick. Cueto is scheduled to pitch again today. Hey, you aren't going to fool the Fan twice with that bait and switch.
• The Mets over the Braves: Despite Jurrjens pitching (which hasn't been a lock this year anyway) the Braves have gone cold. Heyward whiffed three times last night while the other uber-prospect, Ike Davis, hit his first MLB homer. Chipper Jones is a first-ballot HOFer, but he can't play third anymore.
• The Athletics over the Indians: Carmona has been just this side if iffy. Anderson is a great pitcher. And right now, the Indians are playing bad baseball.
• The Yankees over the Angels: You can't stop Pettitte, you can only hope to contain him.
• The Marlins over the Rockies: The Fan thought that Nolasco would beat Smith yesterday when the game was rained out and still thinks the same will happen today.
• The Blue Jays over the Bay Rays: Sticking with Romero who has done the Fan well so far.
• The Astros over the Pirates: Not only have the Pirates been stinking up the joint lately, but they kicked every sports writer in the groin by bringing up Jakubauskas to pitch. Try typing that three times fast.
• The Brewers over the Cubs: Ted Lilly makes his first start of the year and this Fan has a rule that he never picks a pitcher making his first start back from the DL, even if Davis is pitching for the Brewers.
• The Royals over the Twins: Going with two straight upsets in the next two picks. Like Hochever here over Blackburn, which rhymes with heartburn.
• The Orioles over the Red Sox: Matusz versus Lackey. Yeah. That's right, Matusz will win.
• The Rangers over the Tigers: Apparently Feldman is done puking and will go ahead today and beat Dontrelle Willis.
• The Diamondbacks over the Phillies: Make that three upsets in a row as Ian Kennedy will beat Figueroa.
• The Marlins over the Rockies: Nate Roberston is really loving pitching in the National League.
• The Giants over the Cardinals: Might as well finish with another upset as Barry Zito outpitches Mr. Wainwright.

And the GAME OF THE DAY!

• The Mariners over the White Sox: Fister has been great. The White Sox counter with Freddie Garcia. ewww.

Yesterday: 8-6
Week: 44-21
Month: 147-83
Games of the Day: 3-4