Game Picks - Saturday: September 11, 2010

When the Fan went to bed last night, the picks stood at 1-7. It was fully expected that upon awakening this morning, the Fan would find one of the bloodiest picking days in his history. But, a funny thing happened and quite the opposite of what normally happens. The Fan got every single West Coast game correctly and finished the day over .500. Whuh? That was a weird day.

Saturday looks like this:

• The Nationals over the Marlins: Marquis is on a roll now of good starts. He'll beat Sanchez.
• The Blue Jays over the Bay Rays: Romero out pitches Wade Davis and the Blue Jays win at home.
• The Padres over the Giants: Tough game to call. The Padres are certainly reeling. The Giants face a tough Tim Stauffer though and counter with Bumgarner.
• The Orioles over the Tigers: Guthrie has been one of the best pitchers in the second half. Scherzer has been good too. Going with the Fighting Showalters.
• The Phillies over the Mets. How pathetic are the Mets these days? Their manager used seven pitchers in a nine inning game yesterday mixing and matching like it was a playoff game. The sad thing was, they were already down five runs. That's like putting your finger in the dyke when the water behind the dam is already gone.
• The Twins over the Indians: The Twins got shut down by Carmona. But Carrasco is not Carmona. Blackburn has been better since his minors stint.
• The Braves over the Cardinals: Okay, maybe the Braves aren't dead. They beat up on Carpenter with a six run inning last night. Hanson over Westbrook.
• The White Sox over the Royals: Classic mismatch of Jackson versus Davies.
• The Astros over the Dodgers: Wandy! over Ely.
• The Yankees over the Rangers: This is the kind of game that fools you. Hunter should beat Burnett. But on any given day, Burnett is capable of greatness. The trick is whether he can pull it off.
• The Reds over the Pirates: Volquez has not been great. But Morton has to be taken with a grain of salt. Get it?
• The Athletics over the Red Sox: Do you get the feeling that the Red Sox have given up the ghost? Anderson over Lackey.
• The Cubs over the Brewers: Dempster follows up Zambrano's gem with one of his own. Wolf gets the loss.
• The Mariners over the Angels: King Felix needs all wins to stay in the Cy Young conversation. Santana can be tough though for the weak-hitting M's.

And the Game of the Day

• The Rockies over the Diamondbacks: Ubaldo Jiminez FINALLY wins his 18th. He's been outstanding but the Rockies refuse to score for him. That will change today.

Yesterday: 8-7
Week: 44-38
Month: 67-67  certainly a struggle
Season: 1184-889
Games of the Day: 76-65  Thank you, Carlos