Game Picks - Wednesday: September 29, 2010

This picker simply can't get out of the mire. After last night's 6-8 performance (with one rain out), the Fan's record in the last seven days is 35-57. How bad is that? Let's recap what has gone wrong. First, the Fan can't fathom how much the Cardinals have rolled over and died this month. Second, the Astros went on a tear after the All Star break but have had a lousy September. Predicting if the Yankees will win when Sabathia doesn't pitch is treacherous. Most of the contenders have wobbled their way home. The Rockies teased us with all that drama and then tanked the last week. The Rangers and Reds, who had big leads in their divisions, have played like also-rans for a week. The Twins keep getting pounded by the Royals. At one point this month, the Fan was 28 games over .500. Now the month is just 9 games over. The Fan is the Rangers right now and there are no broken ribs to help with an excuse.

But we are almost to the finish line, so if the Fan has to crawl to get there, so be it. Wednesday looks like this:

• The Pirates over the Cardinals: Can't imagine any scenario that LaRussa comes back to this team that quit on him.
• The Rangers over the Mariners: Harden over Vargas. Didn't Harden used to be good? What happened?
• The Dodgers over the Rockies: Kershaw over Chacin. Two disappointing teams just finishing the season.
• The Angels over the Athletics: Pineiro over Cramer. Good match up if Cramer pitches like his first two starts.
• The Brewers over the Mets: The two teams are playing twice on Wednesday. Gallardo over Dickey. And in the second game...
• The Mets over the Brewers: Niese beats Bush.
• The Tigers over the Indians: Scherzer over Talbot. And in the second game...
• The Tigers over the Indians: Verlander over Timlin.
• The Braves over the Marlins: The Braves can smell the playoffs now. They lost Prado for the season though. But they should tee off on Miller. Derek Lowe has never been a great pitcher, but he's always been a great money pitcher.
• The Blue Jays over the Yankees: Poor Vazquez will get pummeled and Cecil gets the win.
• The Phillies over the Nationals: Blanton's five innings will be enough to beat Detwiler and the Nats.
• The Orioles over the Bay Rays: Millwood has a good game and Niemann hasn't pitched well in September.
• The White Sox over the Red Sox: Impossible game to predict as Beckett faces Garcia. Going with the home team.
• The Cubs over the Padres: A sad end to one of the year's best stories. Wells beats Young.
• The Twins over the Royals: Bake beats Hochever and the Royals have to be tired from all that running around the bases.
• The Giants over the Diamondbacks: Lincecum puts his mates on his back and takes them to the post season.

And the Game of the Day

• The Reds over the Astros: The Reds will take it easy on Cueto but their line up should hit Figueroa.

 

Yesterday: 6-8
Week: 15-26
Month: 193-184
Season: 1311-1005
Games of the Day: 84-75   At least this feature has won two in a row.