Game Picks - Sunday: April 17, 2011

Mediocrity reigns supreme here as the picks had there second straight 7-7 day. The weather keeps playing havoc with the early season as the northeast continues a pall of gray and cold. That the 7-7 included picking a Braves sweep of the Mets and a Red Sox win (a rarity so far this season), shows how bad some of the other picks were. Aces Kershaw, Verlander and King Felix all had nothing. Youngsters like Sean O'Sullivan, Casey Coleman and Tyler Chatwood all pitched like aces. What's a picker to do?

Keep picking, that's what. Here are Sunday's games:

• The Indians over the Orioles: The Orioles have gone as cold as the Indians have been hot. And they can't seem to win in Cleveland. Carmona has been very good of late with nothing to show for it. Time for him to win over Bergesen, who gets the start for the Orioles. Doesn't Sizemore return today?
• The Pirates over the Reds: Upset time as Karstens beats an inconsistent Volquez. Yeah, probably a crazy pick. But the Fan is "feeling" it.
• The Phillies over the Marlins: Same scheduled pitchers as the rained out game yesterday: Hamels over Sanchez.
• The Brewers and Nationals split their double-header: Gallardo beats Marquis the first game and Livan beats Marco Estrada in the second game. Marco Estrada? Whodat?
• The Braves over the Mets: The Mets are now 4-11 and are currently flatter than the Fan's wife's meatloaf (inside joke). Things get no better today as Gee makes his first start of the year against Hanson. A death watch should be started on Terry Collins.
• The Red Sox over the Blue Jays: Weather permitting we thinks. Pity the poor Blue Jays to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as the Red Sox break out of their funk. Lester over Litsch.
• The Bay Rays over the Twins: Little hope is seen here for the Twins. Old Gardy sure looks grim in the dugout. Hellickson over Duensing.
• The Astros over the Padres: The last few days have shown that the Padres will not be anywhere near as good as last year. Brett Myers goes 2-0 as he beats Richard.
• The Angels over the White Sox: Dan Haran goes for his fourth consecutive win and he's been a beast so far. Sure hate picking against Buehrle though, especially with the White Sox fighting not to get swept.
• The Mariners over the Royals: Horrible game to pick. Can Pineda keep pitching this well? Can the Mariners muster any hits off of Jeff Francis? Oh gosh.
• The Cubs over the Rockies: Another tough game to pick. Dempster hasn't been very good thus far, but is too good to be this bad. And the Rockies counter with Alan Johnson making his major league debut. Oy.
• The Athletics over the Tigers: Have much more faith in Trevor Cahill than in Brad Penny and hence this pick.
• The Giants over the Diamondbacks: Bumgarner gets off the schnide while the Giants jump on Enright. Enright has lost his last six decisions spanning over to 2010.
• The Cardinals over the Dodgers: Chris Carpenter needs to bounce back off of an uncharacteristic blowout from his last start. But the Cards' bats are red hot and should continue to pound against Billingsley.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Yankees over the Rangers: Sabathia wins the game and the Yankees finally change Ogando's earned run average.

Yesterday: 7-7
Last Week: 47-42
Month: 110-97
Season: 110-97
Games of the Day: 7-10