Game Picks - Thursday: September 30, 2010

Finally! Finally a day over .500. With 17 picks, the Fan managed to get 11 of them correct. Of course the Game of the Day pick came in wrong. And the Tigers made up a full third of the picks that were wrong seeing that they played a vomitous double-header. Throw in the Mets losing both halves of their double dip and you have a full half of all the picks that were incorrect. But this picker was dead on with Millwood pitching brilliantly and Vazquez pitching terribly. It doesn't matter who the Phillies play. They win. And the Twins and Rangers won their first games of the week. Lincecum got the job done and the Giants control their own destiny. The Braves and Padres both won, but the Padres are running out of games. The Yankees and Bay Rays both lost so there is still a half game between them. The Twins are one game back for best record.

A lot of those half game situations will go away today as there are 24 teams out of 30 playing games today. For some of those teams, the season is nearly over. Here are Thursday's picks:

• The Diamondbacks over the Giants: Both Bumgarner and Enright are 6-6 and have pitched reasonably well for being young pitchers. Here's the thing though. The Giants doen't want to be toasted heading into the playoffs. This would be the game to rest some guys before the Padres series.
• The Orioles over the Tigers: Bonderman makes his last start ever for the Tigers. Guthrie beats him.
• The Padres over the Cubs: Garland beats Gorzelanny in a game the Padres have to win or the weekend is irrelevant.
• The Brewers over the Mets: The Brewers will figure Gee out and Narveson has himself a good game.
• The Red Sox over the White Sox: Lester is the man.
• The Marlins over the Pirates: Volstad over Duke in a battle of totally unpredictable pitchers.
• The Royals over the Rays: Perhaps wishful thinking. But Greinke finishes strong and Garza gets some work in against a tough line up.
• The Reds over the Astros: Arroyo is scheduled to pitch. Can't see him going more than five innings. But then that bullpen can take over. Myers goes for the Astros.
• The Twins over the Blue Jays: The stingiest pitcher for giving up homers against the biggest hitting homer team in the majors. That's quite a battle. Liriano over Hill.
• The Cardinals over the Rockies: The Rockies are 31-46 on the road. You want one reason why they couldn't win the NL West, there it is.
• The Athletics over the Mariners: Gio Gonzalez has had a nice year. Fister started strong, but he's been struggling.

And the Game of the Day:

• The Rangers over the Angels: Two lefty pitchers. One's name is Lee, the other Kazmir. Who do you think will win?

 

Yesterday: 11-6
Week: 26-32
Month: 204-190
Season: 1322-1011
Games of the Day: 84-76