Game Picks - Friday: April 29, 2011

Finally! A good day with only three wrong picks on the scorecard. Unfortunately, one of them was the Game of the Day. Livan messed up more prettiness with a win. The Cubbies got crushed. Seriously, what is up with Dempster? And Vogelsong had a magical day after a career of wandering. But those were the only bad choices yesterday. The Fan correctly picked the double-header sweep of the Twins. But, there would be guilty feelings about any kind of gloat there. Feeling badly for those Twins fans right now. The Twins' season has been gruesome. The most surprising event of Thursday was that no games were washed out. Haven't seen that in a while.

We move on to Friday and April's close is drawing near. Now that the week is finally out of the red, let's close in style:

• The Tigers over the Indians: Is this the first time all season the Indians haven't played the Royals? Sure seems like it. This pick is no knock on the Indians. The thinking is that Scherzer will be good and Jeanmar Gomez will not.
• The Phillies over the Mets: Vance Worley gets an emergency start for Blanton (DL) and in his few appearances last year did not look overwhelmed at all. Good strikeout to walk rate in the minors. Pelfrey has been struggling.
• The Giants over the Nationals: The Giants have looked sleepy lately. But Lincecum should wake them up against a good pitcher in Marquis.
• The Yankees over the Blue Jays: Ricky Romero has a 5.70 career ERA against the Yankees who like facing lefties. Garcia will keep the potent Blue Jays off balance.
• The Rays over the Angels: The Rays are on fire and Price pitches tonight. Santana is zero for the season but struck out nine last time out. Should be a close game.
• The Reds over the Marlins: The Marlins have to get Vazquez out of there. Travis Wood should win easily.
• The Red Sox over the Mariners: The resurgent Dice-K slows down the resurgent Mariners. Vargas hasn't looked good so far.
• The Cardinals over the Braves: Two proud old starters in Carpenter and Hudson equal each other out. The Cards have the better offense. Going with that. The wild card is the Cardinals' bullpen.
• The Brewers over the Astros: The Astros will be bamboozled by Marcum and the Brewers will score enough on Myers to win.
• The White Sox over the Orioles: The White Sox have had trouble scoring runs. Going home and facing Arrieta could help. Danks should hold the Orioles' offense down.
• The Twins over the Royals: Baker has been great his last two times out. The Royals just got swept by Cleveland. Both teams have had a bad week, but one of them has to win.
• The Pirates over the Rockies: Correia was very good his last time out and knows how to pitch in Coors. Chacin has been very good but is due for a clunker. This is the Pirates best chance for a win in this series.
• The Cubs over the Diamondbacks: Galarraga's 3-1 record belies the fact that he's been one of the worst starting pitchers in baseball this season. Zambrano should win. Expect the Cubs to get plunked for hitting Upton yesterday.
• The Rangers over the Athletics: Both are throwing good pitchers, Wilson and Cahill. But the Rangers have an offense. The A's don't.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Dodgers over the Padres: Dodgers are at home and will win behind Lilly. Richard is vulnerable against the hot-hitting Dodgers.

Yesterday: 8-3
Week: 32-31
Month: 199-166
Season: 199-166
Games of the Day: 14-15