Game Picks - Saturday: July 10, 2010

Nine correct. Six incorrect. Picking games is fun. And to do so and be correct more often than incorrect is challenging. This picker attempts to be as scientific as possible but there is no end to factors that can be explored. Take the Bay Rays for example. Lately, the Bay Rays have been the juggernaut they were earlier in the season. The Fan did his due diligence but didn't find out this one fact that could have changed his pick: Going into Friday night, the Bay Rays had lost eight straight Friday games. That's right, they hadn't won a game on that day of the week in two months. If the Fan had that information on his fingertips yesterday when making picks, then he could have correctly picked the Bay Rays to lose on their ninth consecutive Friday. How weird is that?

And then you simply run into things that aren't fair. Rightly so, the Fan hardly ever picks the Yankees to lose. But they were supposed to face Cliff Lee on Friday so the pick went to Seattle since the Yankees hardly, if ever, beat Lee. But then Lee got traded during the day and that pick was totally blown out of the water. The Yankees won, 6-1. Oh well.

Saturday's picks:

• The Blue Jays over the Red Sox: Morrow is really good. Lackey's ERA is close to five.
• The Mets over the Braves: Haven't got a game in this series right yet. Pelfrey and Hudson equal themselves out so going with the home team.
• The Dodgers over the Cubs: The Dodgers are so good at home and should tee off on Gorzelanny.
• The Twins over the Tigers: Blackburn versus Bonderman. Bonderman is not having a good year (surprise!). Blackburn isn't either, but still manages to have a winning record.
• The Phillies over the Reds: Have to go with Halladay here.
• The White Sox over the Royals: Floyd keeps the good times rolling over Bannister.
• The Astros over the Cardinals: Suppon versus Myers. Suppon will only go five innings and the Cards' bullpen is a mess.
• The Brewers over the Pirates: What an awful game. Karstens versus Bush? Ugh. Blech.
• The Bay Rays over the Indians: No way Garza loses to Laffey.
• The Rangers over the Orioles: The Orioles are the comeback kings lately. But not today.
• The Rockies over the Padres: Here they come folks. Sorry Padres' fans.
• The Diamondbacks over the Marlins: Not feeling Roberston in this one. Ian Kennedy lost some steam last time out. But he should be better than Robertson.
• The Athletics over the Angels: Sheets should out pitch Kazmir easily.
• The Mariners over the Yankees: Unless they trade King Felix today too.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Giants over the Nationals: Stammen is no Strasburg and Sanchez is really good for the Giants.

Yesterday: 9-6
Week: 46-37
Month: 66-58
Season: 725-555
Games of the Day: 42-40